Abstract

As a direct consequence of the Poynting theorem, and, contrary to the argument by Depine and Lakhtakia [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 32, 1564 (2015)], the local time-averaged dissipated energy in a passive medium can be negative over numerable frequency bands within the spectrum and at a numerable number of points, lines or surfaces; yet the integral of this function remains positive over a finite volume. This conclusion cannot exclude the possibility that the imaginary parts of either the permeability or permittivity, but not both, are negative over some ranges of frequency.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

Poynting theorem constraints on the signs of the imaginary parts of the electromagnetic constitutive parameters: comment

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