Change of Polarization of Electromagnetic Waves on Reflection From Planar Interfaces

Abstract

The change in polarization of electromagnetic waves on reflection from dielectric media has been extensively investigated. The Fresnel co-efficients of reflection and transmission for horizontally and vertically polarized incident waves are used to deduce a new expression to study the change in shape and orientation of the polarization ellipse (eccentricity and the tilt angle of the ellipse) of the reflected wave.

Investigatio]ns carried out for a large number of dielectric materials show that there are definite angles of incidence apart from the Brewster angle, for which the reflected wave is rendered linearly polarized. All the results showing how the eccentricity and the tilt angle of the reflected wave will change with the angle of incidence, are tabulated and presented in the form of graphs. A conservation law for the case of linear polarization is found to exist.

The results nay be useful in the studies of ionospheric wave propagation, dielectric waveguides at microwave, millimetre and optical wave frequencies.

Indexing Terms:

• Polarization
• EM Wave
• Reflection

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abhijit Sarkar

Sarkar, Abhijit had been studying Aeronautical Engineering at IIT, Kharagpur. Subsequently, obtained Master's and PhD degrees in Physics from Moscow (USSR), in 1974 and 1979, respectively. The subject of his research was “Propagation of electromagnetic waves in stratified media”. Worked with the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for one year. Joined the Meteorology Division, Remote Sensing Area of Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad in December, 1980. Has been presently working on problems of microwave remote sensing. Dr. Sarkar is a member of the Indian Meteorological Society.