Institute of Solid State Physics

Technische Universität Graz

The quantization of the

electromagnetic field
 Institute of Solid State Physics
Technische Universität Graz

The quantization of the electromagnetic field

Wave nature and the particle nature of light

Unification of the laws for electricity and
magnetism (described by Maxwell's equations) and
light
Quantization of the harmonic oscillator
Planck's radiation law
Serves as a template for the quantization of
phonons, magnons, plasmons, electrons, spinons,
holons and other quantum particles that inhabit
solids.
 Counting the normal modes

periodic boundary conditions

2 2n
k  
 L

8 6 4 2 0 2 4 6 8 k

L L L L L L L L
 Density of states

All states in the same shell have the same frequency.

 Density of states

Number of states 4 k 2 dk k 2 L3
L D(k )dk  2
3
 2 dk
between k and k+dk =  2 
3

3
for a box of size L .  
 L 
D(k) = k2/2 = density of states/m3
polarizations
 Density of states
The number of states per unit volume with a wavenumber between k
and k + dk is,
k2
D(k )dk  2 dk


 = ck λ = 2/k
d = cdk d= -2/k2dk

The number of states per unit volume with a frequency between 

and  + d is,
2
D( )d   D(k )dk  3 2 d .
c

The number of states per unit volume with a wavelength between λ

and λ + dλ is,
8
D( )d   D(k )dk  d
 4
 Photons are Bosons

The mean number of bosons is given by the Bose-Einstein factor.

1
  
exp   1
 kBT 
 Planck's radiation law
The energy density between λ and λ + dλ is the energy E = hf = hc/λ of
a mode times the density of modes, times the mean number of photons
in that mode.
hc 8 1
 4 hc /  k BT
d
  e 1
E Bose - Einstein factor
D()
8 hc 1
u()  d  J/m3
 5 ehc / k T 1B
Planck's radiation law, Wien's law

Planck's radiation law is often expressed in terms of the intensity

2 hc2 1
I ()  d  W/m2
 5 ehc / k T 1
B

Differentiate to find the position of the peak

Wien's law: λmaxT = 0.0028977 m K

 Stefan - Boltzmann law

Integrate intensity over all wavelengths


8 hc 1 2 5kB4T 4
I  d     T 4
W/m2

0
5 ehc / kBT 1 15h3c2

 = 5.67051 × 10-8 W m-2 K-4

Integrating the energy spectral density over all wavelengths

4 T 4
u J/m3
c
 Thermodynamic quantities


 u 16 T 3

Specific heat: cv     J K-1 m-3

 T V c

cv 16 T 3
entropy: s   dT  J K-1 m-3
T 3c

f = u - Ts

4 T 4
Helmholtz free energy: f J/m3
3c
 Thermodynamic quantities

F 4VT 4 4 T 4
Radiation Pressure: P   N/m2
V 3c 3c

 
Momentum of a photon: p  k
 Recipe for the quantization of fields

Determine the classical normal modes. If the equations are

nonlinear, linearize the equations. The nonlinear terms can be
included later as perturbations.

Calculate the density of states (density of normal modes per energy).

Quantize the states.

Knowing the distribution of the quantum states, deduce

thermodynamic quantities.
Photons, phonons, magnons, plasmons, ...

We quantized the wave equation.

The wave equation describes the motion of light waves, sound

waves, plasma waves, waves in the magnetization, waves in the
electric polarization, ...

The density of states is different in 1 and 2 dimensions: waves on a

string (carbon nanotubes), waves at a surface, waves at an interface.

Sound waves have 3 polarizations, light waves have 2.

 Density of states

 8  6   4  2 0 2 4 6 8 k
1-D L L L L L L L L

Number of states dk
between |k| and |k|+dk = LD(k )dk  2  2 
2
2 D(k ) 
for a line of size L. 
polarizations L
+/- k
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . Number of states 2 k dk
2-D . . . . . k. . . between |k| and |k|+dk = L D(k )dk  2
2
. . . . . . . . 
2
. . . . . . . . for an area of size L .
2  
2
. . . . . . . .  
. .
 L
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
k
 2 
2 D(k )  [m-1 ]
  
 L 
 Light in a layered material

The dielectric constant and speed of light are different for the two layers.

Distributed Bragg reflector

 Light in a layered material

Wave equation in a periodic medium 2 Aj 2 Aj

c2 ( x) 
x 2
t 2

Separation of variables Aj  x, t    ( x)eit

d 2 ( x) 2
Hill's equation 2
  2  ( x)
dx c ( x)
Normal modes don't have a clearly defined wavelength.

2nd order linear differential equation with periodic coefficients.

Mathematically equivalent to the time independent Schrödinger equation.

2 d 2 ( x)
 2
  E V ( x)  ( x)
2m dx
Swing

For some parameters there are

periodic solutions (band).

For some parameters there are

exponentially growing and
decaying solutions (bandgap).
 Translational symmetry

The normal modes are eigenfunctions of the translation operator

The normal modes have Bloch form.

 ( x)  eikxuk ( x) where uk ( x)  uk ( x  a)

ik  x a 
Teikxuk ( x)  e uk ( x  a)  eikaeikxuk ( x)
 The allowed k values are the same

ik  xa 
Teikxuk ( x)  e uk ( x  a)  eikaeikxuk ( x)

For a crystal with dimensions LLL where L = Na, the allowed values of k
are the same as the allowed wave numbers for light in a cube LLL.

D(k), the density of states in k, is the same as for photons in vacuum.

periodic boundary conditions

2 2n
k  
 L
 Light in a layered material

I II

d 2 ( x) 2
Hill's equation 2
  2  ( x)
dx c ( x)

In region I, the solutions are sin(x/c1) and cos(x/c1).

In region II, the solutions are sin(x/c2) and cos(x/c2).

Match the solutions at the boundaries.

Normal modes don't have a clearly defined wavelength.