Non-absorbing isotropic–uniaxial interfaces: refraction in ordinary and extraordinary total reflection

Abstract

We study characteristics of refraction of plane waves in a non-absorbing isotropic–uniaxial interface in conditions of total and partial reflection when the incident wave has arbitrary direction with regard to the optical axis of the crystal and polarization. We analyse the ordinary and extraordinary fields and a phase shift that appears in the propagating wave which subsists in ordinary or extraordinary total reflection. We obtain that, unlike what happens in isotropic interfaces, under conditions of ordinary total reflection, the ordinary time-averaged Poynting vector changes its direction with the angle of incidence which does not depend on the existence of extraordinary total reflection. Extraordinary total reflection gives place to an analogous behaviour of the extraordinary time-averaged Poynting vector. In addition, we define and calculate in an explicit way complex coefficients of transmission for geometries with and without symmetry in partial and total reflection.

Acknowledgments

This work has been done with the support of CONICET and a grant from UBA.