Quantum optical input--output relations for dispersive and lossy multi-slab dielectric plates

Using the Green function approach to the problem of quantization of the phenomenological Maxwell theory, the propagation of quantized radiation through dispersive and absorptive multilayer dielectric plates is studied. Input--output relations are derived, with special emphasis on the determination of the quantum noise generators associated with the absorption of radiation inside the dielectric matter. The input--output relations are used to express arbitrary correlation functions of the outgoing field in terms of correlation functions of the incoming field and those of the noise generators. To illustrate the theory, the effect of a single-slab plate on the mean photon-number densities in the frequency domain is discussed in more detail.