SPONTANEOUS EMISSION FROM A DIELECTRIC SLAB

The electromagnetic field in a dielectric slab bounded by two dielectr ic half spaces with arbitrary refractive indices is quantized by compu ting the complete set of orthonormal electromagnetic modes. The zero-p oint fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are determined as a fun ction of position. The dependence of the rate of spontaneous emission of thin dielectric films on the thicknesses of the films and the refra ctive index of the substrate is studied and compared with experimental results.