ABSTRACT
The anomalous skin effect is a phenomenon that relates to the way the conduction electrons in a metal are reflected at the surface of the metal. If the field in which the electrons move between collisions is constant, the reflectance is a function of only two material parameters, the direct current conductivity and the electronic relaxation time. When the amplitude penetration depth of the incident light becomes comparable to the mean free path of the conduction electrons, the Drude theory must be modified. The results presented in this entry indicate that although optically superpolished surfaces reduce scatter and absorption at shorter wavelengths, they do not change mirror performance in the infrared.
