Electromagnetic vacuum energy for two parallel slabs in terms of surface, wave guide and photonic modes

TL;DR

This paper reevaluates the electromagnetic vacuum energy between two parallel slabs using the Lifshitz formula, emphasizing the importance of surface, waveguide, and photonic modes in the plasma model.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive formulation of the Lifshitz formula that includes waveguide modes alongside surface and photonic modes for plasma model half-spaces.

Findings

Waveguide modes are essential in the vacuum energy calculation.

The Lifshitz formula is extended to incorporate additional mode contributions.

Surface and photonic modes alone are insufficient for accurate energy estimation.

Abstract

The formulation of the Lifshitz formula in terms of real frequencies is reconsidered for half spaces described by the plasma model. It is shown that besides the surface modes (for the TM polarization), and the photonic modes, also waveguide modes must be considered.