Stored electromagnetic field energies in general materials

Abstract

The most general expressions of the stored energies for time-harmonic electromagnetic fields are derived from the time-domain Poynting theorem, and are valuable in characterizing the energy storage and transport properties of complex media. A new energy conservation law for the time-harmonic electromagnetic fields, which involves the derived general expressions of the stored energies, is introduced. In contrast to the well-established Poynting theorem for time-harmonic fields, the real part of the new energy conservation law gives an equation for the sum of stored electric and magnetic field energies; the imaginary part involves an equation related to the difference between the dissipated electric and magnetic field energies. In a lossless isotropic and homogeneous medium, the new energy conservation law has a clear physical implication: the stored electromagnetic field energy of a radiating system enclosed by a surface is equal to the total field energy inside the surface subtracted by the field energy flowing out of the surface.