ABSTRACT
Capitalizing on the concepts and techniques of the analysis of wave propagation in homogeneouCONCEPTUAL QUESTION 8.1s and unbounded media of various electromagnetic properties from the previous chapter, we now proceed to develop the concepts and techniques for the analysis of wave interaction with planar boundaries between material regions. In general, as a wave encounters an interface separating two different media, it is partly reflected back to the incident medium (wave reflection) and partly transmitted to the medium on the other side of the interface (wave transmission), and hence the title of this chapter. The material will be presented as several separate cases of reflection and transmission (also referred to as refraction) of plane waves, in order of increasing complexity, from normal incidence (wave propagation direction is normal to the interface) on a perfectly conducting plane and normal incidence on a penetrable interface (between two arbitrary media), to oblique incidence (at an arbitrary angle) on these two types of interfaces. The material will include discussions of distributions of total fields and waves in the structure, as well as numerous concepts associated with these fields and waves. In all problems, however, the core of the solution will be the use of appropriate general electromagnetic boundary conditions, as a “connection” between the fields on different sides of the interfaces.
