English

Macroscopic quantum electrodynamics and duality in non-local and Onsager-violating media

Quantum Physics 2015-05-30 v1

Abstract

We formulate macroscopic quantum electrodynamics for the most general linear, absorbing media. In particular, Onsager reciprocity is not assumed to hold. For media with a non-local response, the field quantisation is based on the conductivity tensor and the Green tensor for the electromagnetic field. For a local medium response, we introduce the permittivity, permeability and magnetoelectric susceptibilities to obtain an explicitly duality-invariant scheme. We find that duality invariance only holds as a continuous symmetry when non-reciprocal responses are allowed for.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1109.6193,
  title  = {Macroscopic quantum electrodynamics and duality in non-local and Onsager-violating media},
  author = {Stefan Yoshi Buhmann and David T. Butcher and Stefan Scheel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.6193},
  year   = {2015}
}

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5 pages