Canonical quantization of macroscopic electrodynamics in a linear, inhomogeneous magneto-electric medium

Abstract: We present a canonical quantization of macroscopic electrodynamics. The results apply to inhomogeneous media with a broad class of linear magneto-electric responses which are consistent with the Kramers-Kronig and Onsager relations. Through its ability to accommodate strong dispersion and loss, our theory provides a rigorous foundation for the study of quantum optical processes in structures incorporating metamaterials, provided these may be modeled as magneto-electric media. Previous canonical treatments of dielectric and magneto-dielectric media have expressed the electromagnetic field operators in either a Green function or mode expansion representation. Here we present our results in the mode expansion picture with a view to applications in guided wave and cavity quantum optics.