Spontaneous emission from a dielectric slab

Abstract
The electromagnetic field in a dielectric slab bounded by two dielectric half spaces with arbitrary refractive indices is quantized by computing the complete set of orthonormal electromagnetic modes. The zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are determined as a function of position. The dependence of the rate of spontaneous emission of thin dielectric films on the thicknesses of the films and the refractive index of the substrate is studied and compared with experimental results.