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For a steady uniform current density in a nonmagnetic wire, the enclosed electric current at radius $r<a$ is $I_{\mathrm{enc}}=I{r}^2/a^2$. A circular Amperian loop and Ampère's law then giveThe magnetic field circles the wire according to the right-hand rule relative to the current direction. Its magnitude increases linearly from zero on the axis. The uniform-current assumption excludes skin effect.

Choose the guide axis as $z$, with $0<x<a$ and $0<y<b$. The electric field is along $y$, parallel to the walls' $b$ dimension. Take a homogeneous lossless nonmagnetic dielectric with relative permittivity $ϵ$, ideal conducting walls, and time dependence $e^{-i\omega t}$. The lowest transverse electric mode of a rectangular waveguide isAt $x=0,a$, this tangential electric field vanishes. At $y=0,b$ the electric field is normal to the wall; a nonzero value is supported by surface electric charge and violates no conducting boundary condition. The field has zero divergence. The associated normal magnetic field also vanishes at each wall, as verified below. The fundamental sine across the wider dimension minimizes the nonzero transverse wave number; ${\mathrm{TE}}_{00}$ is not a physical propagating mode of a hollow simply connected guide.

Below the waveguide cutoff frequency $f_c=c/(2a\sqrt{ϵ})$, put $\beta =i\kappa$ with $\kappa >0$ to select decay for $z>0$. The evanescent transverse electric mode in a rectangular waveguide then hasFor the fixed frequency in the question,The decay length increases monotonically and diverges as $ϵ\to 4^{-}$; its formal limit at $ϵ\to 0^{+}$ is $a/\pi$. At $ϵ=4$ the mode is at cutoff, with zero axial wave number. For $ϵ>4$, $\beta =(\pi /a)\sqrt{ϵ/4-1}$ is real and the mode propagates without axial attenuation in this ideal lossless model. There is no real finite evanescent decay length to continue beyond cutoff. The paper's graph notation $l$ denotes the same $\ell$ as its preceding formula.

From Faraday's law of induction, $\nabla \times \tilde{\mathbf{E}}=i\omega \tilde{\mathbf{B}}$. Writing $q=\pi /a$ givesThus $B_x$ vanishes on the $x$ walls and $B_y$ vanishes on the $y$ walls, meeting the normal magnetic boundary conditions. The fields also satisfy $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{B}=0$. For real $E_0$ the physical fields are $E_y=E_0\sin (qx)e^{-\kappa z}\cos \omega t$, $B_x=-(\kappa /\omega )E_0\sin (qx)e^{-\kappa z}\sin \omega t$, and $B_z=-(q/\omega )E_0\cos (qx)e^{-\kappa z}\sin \omega t$.

The time-averaged Poynting vector isAll products are imaginary because the electric field and magnetic field are in quadrature. A single decaying evanescent wave stores reactive energy without transmitting average power into a semi-infinite lossless guide. A finite below-cutoff section can transmit power when both independent evanescent solutions are present; that is a different boundary-value problem.

The skin effect also gives exponential field decay, but in a good metal $k$ has both real and imaginary parts and there is a real inward mean Poynting vector. That flux supplies Joule heating $\sigma |\tilde{E}{|}^2/2$. Here attenuation comes from geometric cutoff in a lossless region, with no conductivity and no dissipative power sink; exponential decay alone does not establish absorption.

For a thick good conductor in the normal skin effect regime, the skin-effect surface resistance is determined byIdentical guide geometry then giveswhere the numerical ratio assumes both coatings are nonmagnetic, with $\mu \simeq {\mu }_0$. A magnetic stainless-steel grade would require its magnetic permeability; conductivity alone does not fix that alternative.

Using ${\mu }_0\simeq 4\pi \times 10^{-7}\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$, the gold skin depth at the stated frequency isThe metal coating thickness relative to skin depth sets the useful scale. Thus a layer of order $1\mu \mathrm{m}$ begins to be useful, and a few skin depths, roughly $2$–$3\mu \mathrm{m}$, substantially screen the poorer substrate. This is a thickness scale, not a specified attenuation threshold. It assumes a continuous coating thicker than the relevant microscopic surface scale.^[ref][ref]

Electromagnetic waves drive mobile charges in a conducting medium. Their current changes both the phase and attenuation of the wave. A description in terms of a real, frequency-independent refractive index is therefore generally insufficient: the material response and the propagation constant are complex and frequency dependent.

Use phasors proportional to $e^{i(kz-\omega t)}$, with $k=k^{\prime }+i{k}^{\prime \prime }$ and $k^{\prime \prime }\ge 0$ for a passive medium. In a homogeneous, isotropic, linear material, let ${ϵ}_b$ represent the permittivity associated with bound-charge electric polarization, $\mu$ the magnetic permeability and $\sigma (\omega )$ the mobile-charge conductivity. The macroscopic Maxwell equations giveFor a transverse plane wave, taking another curl yieldsThis division of the response avoids counting mobile electrons both in ${ϵ}_b$ and in $\sigma$. Define the complex refractive index $\tilde{n}=ck/\omega =n+i\kappa$. For a nonmagnetic medium, ${\tilde{n}}^2={ϵ}_{\mathrm{eff}}/{ϵ}_0$. Its real part determines the phase variation, while the positive optical extinction coefficient $\kappa$ gives amplitude attenuation $e^{-\omega \kappa z/c}$ and intensity attenuation $e^{-2\omega \kappa z/c}$. The amplitude penetration length is

A simple microscopic explanation comes from the Drude model. Let electrons of charge $-e$, mass $m$ and number density $n_e$ move against an effectively stationary positive background. Collisions relax their mean velocity at rate $\nu$:ConsequentlyWith a vacuum-like bound-charge background, this givesIts imaginary part is positive for positive $\omega ,\nu$, consistent with dissipation under the chosen phasor convention. Real materials can require an effective electron mass, a nontrivial bound-charge response, or additional absorption associated with the electronic band structure.

A plasma is a conducting ionized medium with mobile electrons and ions, approximately neutral on large scales because of plasma screening. For the electron-frequency transverse waves considered here, the heavy ions can often be treated as stationary. In a dilute weakly collisional plasma, $\nu \ll \omega$, soFor $\omega >{\omega }_p$, $k$ is real in this collisionless model and the wave propagates. Its phase velocity is $v_{\mathrm{ph}}=c/n>c$, while its group velocity is $v_g=cn<c$; their product is $c^2$. A phase crest exceeding $c$ does not imply superluminal information transport. For $\omega <{\omega }_p$, the refractive-index square is negative andThe transmitted field is evanescent rather than a traveling bulk wave. A sufficiently thick collisionless plasma reflects such radiation without Ohmic absorption. Collisions make the response complex and permit absorption. This accounts for a plasma cutoff and, qualitatively, the reflection of some radio frequencies by ionized atmospheric layers. The simple model describes transverse waves; plasmas also support longitudinal collective modes.

In a metal, positive ions usually form a crystal lattice. Mobile conduction electrons occupy states described by the electronic band structure and normally form a degenerate Fermi gas. The conduction-electron density is usually much higher than in a dilute gas plasma. Thus its plasma frequency is commonly in the optical or ultraviolet range, rather than the lower radio-frequency values possible in dilute plasmas. Electron scattering from the lattice, defects and other excitations gives a finite relaxation rate. The distinction is not that every plasma is collisionless and every metal collisional: the controlling ratio for either material is $\omega /\nu$, together with its carrier density and bound-charge response.

At sufficiently low frequency, $\omega \ll \nu$, the metal's conductivity is approximately real, ${\sigma }_0=n_e{e}^2/(m\nu )$. In a good conductor the conduction current dominates the displacement current, ${\sigma }_0\gg \omega {ϵ}_b$. The wave equation then givesFor example, a tangential electric field varies asThe current $\mathbf{J}={\sigma }_0\mathbf{E}$ is therefore concentrated within a few skin depths of the surface: this is the skin effect. As frequency increases within this regime, $\delta \propto {\omega }^{-1/2}$. In a wire whose radius greatly exceeds $\delta$, only a thin outer region carries appreciable alternating current, increasing the effective resistance. In a conducting shield, the same penetration suppresses the field transmitted through a sufficiently thick wall.

The Poynting theorem identifies the loss as Joule heating. The cycle-averaged heating density for a complex conductivity isThe wave impedance is $Z=\mu \omega /k$. For incidence from vacuum at normal incidence, the electric reflection amplitude is $r=(Z-Z_0)/(Z+Z_0)$, where $Z_0=\sqrt{{\mu }_0/{ϵ}_0}$. A good conductor has small $|Z|$ and therefore strong reflection, while the part of the incident power entering it is dissipated over the skin depth.

At high enough frequency that $\omega \gg \nu$, a metal's free-electron response also approaches the collisionless plasma form. The low-frequency formula $\delta \propto {\omega }^{-1/2}$ must not simply be extrapolated into that regime. Real optical behavior additionally depends on the electronic band structure and transitions between bands. Both plasmas and metals are therefore described by the same electromagnetic response framework, but their relevant densities, scattering rates and frequency regimes differ.