Abstract

We consider the field evolution in a waveguide with mirror walls during adiabatic variation of its cross-section starting from the free unbounded space. The rigorous calculation shows that the energy of a cut-off frequency quantum is equal to the work performed in this confinement process in opposition to the radiation pressure of zero-point vacuum fluctuations, having the initial frequency equal to zero. This statement lends the clear physical meaning to known analogy between the cut-off frequency and the photon rest mass in a waveguide put forward by de-Broglie: the rest mass is an equivalent of mentioned energy (work) and ultimately come from the simplest form of electromagnetic matter - the static fluctuation field of vacuum. The cut-off wavelength is merely the Compton wavelength of a photon confined in a waveguide.

© 1995 Optical Society of America