Measurement of the unusual dielectric response to low-frequency s-polarized evanescent waves in metals with implications for the Casimir effect

We report precision measurements of the lateral component of the oscillating magnetic field reflected from a copper plate, which is fully determined by s-polarized evanescent waves. The measurement data are compared with theoretical predictions of classical electrodynamics using the dielectric permittivity of copper as given by the Drude model. It is shown that these predictions are excluded by the measurement data which means that the currently used Drude model does not provide a complete description of the electromagnetic response of metals for s-polarized evanescent waves. The critical importance of this result for several fields of condensed matter physics and optics dealing with evanescent waves, including the Casimir effect, is discussed.