Eur. Phys. J. B 2, 413-449 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050265

Effects of a finite screening length on the absorption of electromagnetic waves

¹ Service de Physique Théorique, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
² Service de Physique Nucléaire, CEA, BP 12, 91680 Bruyères-le-Châtel, France

Corresponding author: ^a zaf@spht.saclay.cea.fr

Received: 29 July 1997
Revised: 24 November 1997
Accepted: 20 February 1998
Published online: 15 April 1998

Abstract

When an electromagnetic wave impinges on a semiconductor or ionic conductor having a sizeable screening length, it induces diffusion currents in addition to the ohmic currents, which affects the propagation in heterostructures or composite media involving such materials. In the simple geometries and in the low frequency regime studied here, the absorption may be either enhanced or reduced, depending on the parameters, and effects precluded for metals are predicted: extinction of the reflection by a plane wall, complete absorption of an electric multipolar wave by a sphere, disappearance of the scattering by a small sphere, vanishing of both reflection and transmission coefficients for a slab. If the screening length is larger than the skin depth, a slab with intermediate thickness may have a large transparency, and a thick piece of material is expected to be cooled down by the wave near the interface and overheated deeper inside.