Wave effects on radiative transfer in absorbing and emitting thin-film media

This work answers two questions in microscale radiative heat transfer. The first question is how to fake electromagnetic wave effects into consideration in formulating radiative transfer problems in a participating medium, and the second question is what the differences are between the wave solution of the problem and the solution of the equation of radiative transfer (ERT)? Based on the electric fluctuation theory and the solution of the electromagnetic wave equations, a wave formulation is presented for radiative transfer across a thin film sandwiched between two semi-infinite media. The solution includes absorption and emission in both the film and the surrounding media. Numerical results are obtained for the special case of thermal emission from a thin film with a large internal temperature gradient A comparison between the wave and the ERT solutions demonstrates the interference and tunneling effects in the thin-film limit.