Is There an Alternative to Fermi's Golden Rule for E&M Wave Equations?

[Iforgot]

With out having to use the Dirac equation for a photon, is there any formalism similar to Fermi's golden rule, except for the E&M wave equation derived from Maxwells' Equations?

I have a simple system whose wave equation solutions can be nicely expressed in terms of an eigenfunction expansion. I want calculate how much energy in one mode is transferred to another mode by the introduction of perturbation.

My attempts to implement the derivation of the Golden on the wave equation haven't been too successful b/c the wave equation is 2nd order in time. I might have to use a more rigorous perturbation method than the one used to derive Fermi's Golden rule.

But before I do, I'm pretty sure some one tackled this problem before. Any one know who?

 

[azntoon]

Or where I can find out?The closest thing to Fermi's Golden rule for the wave equation that I have found is the Quantum Theory of Light by R. Glauber. In this book, Glauber develops a perturbative approach to calculate the transition rate between two energy eigenstates using the Maxwell equations. The approach is closely related to the Golden rule, but extended to account for the time-dependent nature of the wave equation.