Can the Z component of an electric field dissipate energy to XY plane?

[confusedwrtEM]

Say if I have an EM wave with electric field (x, y, z) = (0, 0, E_z), and magnetic field (x, y, z) = (H_x, H_y, 0).

Can this wave's electric field dissipate energy to the XY plane? Like, if I had 2D cells in the XY plane that absorb energy from an electric field, will they gain energy from the E_z component of this EM wave?

My trivial understanding says the answer is yes, because the electric field energy at each point on the XY plane would be

E_xy = ∫E_z(x, y) dxdy

and so long as E_z(x, y) is not zero, then the integral would be non-zero. But something doesn't seem right ... how can a field propagating in a direction orthogonal to a plane dissipate energy to that plane? confused

 

[Vailanor]

The answer is yes, the electric field from the EM wave can dissipate energy to the XY plane. The energy of the E_z component of the EM wave will be transferred to the XY plane through interactions between the electric and magnetic fields. This is known as the Faraday effect or magneto-optical effect. In this effect, the electric field of the EM wave induces a change in the polarization of the cells in the XY plane which absorb the energy of the electric field. As such, the cells in the XY plane will gain energy from the E_z component of the EM wave.