Electrodynamics at a metal surface. II. Fresnel formulas for the electromagnetic field at the interface for a jellium model within the random phase approximation

Abstract

We compute the electromagnetic fields generated at a vacuum–metal interface by incident radiation. We use a jellium model and the random phase approximation. The validity of the Fresnel equations at small distances from the surface is discussed. Numerical values for the continuous variation of the electric field vector through the interface are presented. Our main concern here is to illustrate the effects of the nonlocality of the dielectric response and of the continuous variation of the response function across the interface on the electrodynamic properties of the system.