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Exercise1 Interface (1)

The document discusses the reflection and transmission of light at a plane interface between two materials characterized by different dielectric constants. It outlines the mathematical framework, including Fresnel coefficients and boundary conditions, for analyzing the behavior of electric fields during scattering at the interface. Additionally, it describes a MATLAB exercise to numerically compute and visualize the electric field profiles for varying angles of incidence.

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abdeloumamm
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10 views3 pages

Exercise1 Interface (1)

The document discusses the reflection and transmission of light at a plane interface between two materials characterized by different dielectric constants. It outlines the mathematical framework, including Fresnel coefficients and boundary conditions, for analyzing the behavior of electric fields during scattering at the interface. Additionally, it describes a MATLAB exercise to numerically compute and visualize the electric field profiles for varying angles of incidence.

Uploaded by

abdeloumamm
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Reflection and transmission of light

at the plane interface


We consider the scattering of a time-harmonic incident field on an interface at z = 0 between
two materials 1 and 2 in the x-z plane. The geometry is illustrated below.

S pol.
E(2s )
k2
2 n
0 x
1
1 E1( rs )

k1
E1( s ) k1r

The materials are characterized by dielectric constants 1 and 2 and we assume that 1 = 2 =
1. The harmonic time dependence is given by e  it .

The incoming field is a plane wave with angle of incidence 1. At the interface it is partly
reflected back into material 1 and partly transmitted into material 2. In the following we
consider S polarization only, such that the total field is
E(r )  E( s ) (r )  E ( s ) (r ) y , (1)

where y is a unit vector along the y axis. We skip the (s) index below for simplicity. The
incoming and scattered fields are given by:
E1 (r )  E1eik1r y (2)
ik1 r r
E1r (r )  E1r e y (3)
E2 (r )  E2eik 2 r y , (4)

where k1  (k x ,0, k z1 ) , k1r  ( k x ,0, k z1 ) , k 2  ( k x ,0, k z2 ) and k i  ki   i k0 with k0   / c .


The total field is then

 E (r )  E1r (r ) ( z  0)
E(r )   1 . (5)
 E2 (r ) ( z  0)
Fresnel coefficients
The incident and scattered fields are related using the Fresnel reflection and transmission
coefficients
E1r
r s (k x )  (6)
E1
E
t s (k x )  2 . (7)
E1

The goal of this part is to determine the Fresnel coefficients r s (k x ) and t s ( k x ) . These depend
on the angle of incidence 1 and are usually given as function of k x  k1 sin 1 .

1)

Using the Maxwell’s equation   E  iB and the constitutive relation B  0H , compute
the H component of the incident, the reflected and the transmitted fields.

2)

In absence of free surface currents the boundary conditions at the interface are
n  (E1  E1r  E2 )  0 (8)
n  ( H1  H1r  H 2 )  0 . (9)

Using the boundary conditions for the electric and magnetic fields above, show that for S
polarization we have
E1  E1r  E2  0 (10)
k z1 E1  k z1 E1r  k z2 E2  0 . (11)

3)

Using Eqs. (10)-(11) and the definitions of the Fresnel coefficients, show that
k z1  k z2
r s (k x )  (12)
k z1  k z2
2k z1
t s (k x )  . (13)
k z1  k z2

Note that the relative permeabilities are absent from (12)-(13), since we have assumed that 1
= 2 = 1. In the case of magnetic materials, we should include the relative permabilities and
the expressions for the Fresnel coefficients are then given by N&H eqs. (2.51)-(2.52).
Field calculation in Matlab
The goal of this part is to numerically compute and plot the electric field in the vicinity of the
interface. We consider the 3 by 3 m computational domain with the interface at z = 0
illustrated below.
3 m

2 0 x
3 m
1
1

The parameters are 1 = 2, 2 = 1 and the free-space wavelength   2 / k0 is 633 nm.

1)

Using the analytical expressions derived in exercise 1, plot the real part of the electric field
profile given by (5) for an angle of incidence 1 of 40°. Verify that the field and its gradient
along z are continuous at the interface.

2)

Plot the corresponding field for an angle of incidence 1 of 46°. What is the difference
between the two field profiles?

What is the critical angle of total internal reflection  c for this geometry?

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