Optical near-field interactions are studied theoretically in the perspective of photon wave mechanics paying particular attention to the dynamics in the wave-vector time domain. A unitary transformation is used to replace the scalar and longitudinal photon variables by so-called near-field and gauge photon variables. Dynamical equations are established for these types of photon variables, and it is shown that these equations are invariant against gauge transformations within the Lorenz gauge. The near-field photon is absent in the free-field limit, and the gauge photon can be eliminated by a suitable gauge transformation. Implicit solutions for the near-field, gauge, and transverse photon variables are obtained and discussed. The general theory is applied to an investigation of transverse photon propagation in a uniform solid-state plasma dominated by the diamagnetic field-matter interaction. It is found that the diamagnetic response can be incorporated in a quantum mechanical wave equation for a massive transverse photon. The Compton wave number of the massive photon equals the plasma wave number of the electron system. A dynamical equation describing the emission of a massive transverse photon from a mesoscopic source embedded in the plasma is finally established.

• Received 12 July 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.76.062110