ABSTRACT
We do not intend to overview the entire history of light-matter interactions here, but would like to simply point out that, although ever-increasing insight regarding light and its interaction with matter has taken place over the last several thousand years, the theory of electromagnetic waves was placed on rm theoretical ground during the nineteenth century with the development of Maxwell’s equations. In fact, all classical descriptions of the interactions between light and matter can be described by Maxwell’s equations and the constitutive relations. Thus, we begin this chapter by describing the relationship between what is knownMaxwell’s equations-and what can be measured.
