ABSTRACT
In this chapter we continue our mathematical treatment of the propagation of electromagnetic waves through linear optical media begun in Chapter 2, where there are no boundary conditions for the volume, nOr cliffractive Or spatially limiting elements within the. volume. The major difference between the mathematical models presented In this chapter and those of Chapter 2 is that we now allow the volume through which the light is propagating to be composed of more than one linear optical medium. However, we do have the following restrictions on the interface between the two different optical media:
the shape of the interface between the media is that of a plane, and
there are no other restrictive or cliffractive elements within the plane between the media.
Treating the light as a vector electromagnetic field, we derive the Fresnel reflection and transmission coefficients to determine the reflected and transmitted light fields for the s- and p-polarization components of the incident light. We present the case in which the interface is along the x-y plane of a Cartesian coordinate system, and we show how to find the coordinate transformation for treating the case in which the interface is along any other plane.
