English

The reflection of a Maxwell-Gaussian beam by a planar surface

Optics 2007-11-15 v2

Abstract

The reflection of a three-dimensional vectorial Maxwell-Gaussian beam by a planar surface is studied. The surface is characterized by its complex reflection coefficients rs(\bk)r_s(\bk) and rp(\bk)r_p(\bk) for TE and TM electromagnetic plane waves of wavevector \bk\bk, respectively. The field impinging upon the reflecting surface is modeled as a quasi-monochromatic fundamental Gaussian beam suitably modified in order to satisfy Maxwell equations (Maxwell-Gaussian beam). Analytical expressions, correct up to the second order in a perturbation expansion, are given for the reflected electric and magnetic field, respectively. We found that first order terms in the perturbation expansion account for a longitudinal shift (Goos-H\"{a}nchen effect) of the whole reflected beam, while second order terms modifies the transverse shape of the beam which is, at this order, no longer cylindrically symmetric.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0710.1643,
  title  = {The reflection of a Maxwell-Gaussian beam by a planar surface},
  author = {Andrea Aiello and Han Woerdman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.1643},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

49 pages, 7 figures. V2: A few typos corrected, some new material added

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:28:39.225Z