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arXiv:2605.03836 · Physical Review A

Path integral quantization of the electromagnetic field in nonlinear dielectric materials

Arman Kashef, Oscar Perearnau Herrero, Alexander Szameit, Marco Ornigotti, Stefan Scheel

quant-phphysics.opticsSubmitted May 5, 2026• Announced May 6, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We construct a quantum theory of light in nonlinear dielectric media with dispersion and absorption. We employ a mesoscopic model for the light-matter interaction that include a fourth-order nonlinearity in the material response. Quantization is performed by constructing an effective action in a path-integral formalism by integrating out matter and bath degrees of freedom. We show how a nonlinear response function associated with Kerr nonlinearity is obtained through the model and, after full field quantization, we derive the Feynman rules from this theory.

Journal reference
Phys. Rev. A 113, 043730 (2026)
DOI
10.1103/2ps3-lzcd

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