Related papers: Resolving the wave-vector and the refractive index…
The identification of the refractive index and wave vector for general (possibly active) linear, isotropic, homogeneous, and non-spatially dispersive media is discussed. Correct conditions for negative refraction necessarily include the…
The refractive index of a dielectric medium comprising both passive and inverted components in its permittivity was determined using two methods: (i) in the time domain, a finite-difference algorithm to compute the frequency-domain…
When a monochromatic electromagnetic plane-wave arrives at the flat interface between its transparent host (i.e., the incidence medium) and an amplifying (or gainy) second medium, the incident beam splits into a reflected wave and a…
When a monochromatic electromagnetic plane-wave arrives at the flat interface between its transparent host (i.e., the incidence medium) and an amplifying (or gainy) second medium, the incident beam splits into a reflected wave and a…
We address the general issue of resolving the wave-vector in complex electromagnetic media including negative refractive media. This requires us to make a physical choice for the sign of a square-root imposed merely by conditions of…
Motivated by non-destructive testing of optical fiber, we consider the problem of determining the index of refraction of a two-dimensional medium from magnitude of the total field resulting from known incident plane waves at a fixed…
The problem of reconstruction of an unknown refractive index $k(x)$ of an inhomogeneous solid $P$ is considered. The refractive index is assumed to be a piecewise-H\"{o}lder function The original boundary value problem for the Helmholtz…
We examine the refractive index from the viewpoint of modern first-principles materials physics. We first argue that the standard formula, $n^2 = \varepsilon_{\mathrm r} \mu_{\mathrm r}$, is generally in conflict with fundamental principles…
We discuss the calculation of the refractive index by means of the ab initio scalar dielectric function and point out its inherent limitations. To overcome these, we start from the recently proposed fundamental, microscopic wave equation in…
We describe a high-speed interferometric method, using multiple angles of incidence and multiple wavelengths, to measure the absolute thickness, tilt, the local angle between the surfaces, and the refractive index of a fluctuating…
Effective medium theory aims to describe a complex inhomogeneous material in terms of a few important macroscopic parameters. To characterise wave propagation through an inhomogeneous material, the most crucial parameter is the effective…
It is shown that for thin metal films, thickness of which does not exceed a thickness of a skin-layer, the problem allows analytical solution for any boundary conditions. The analysis of transmission, reflection and absorption of an…
We find a new set of exact solutions to Maxwell's equations in space--time varying materials, where the refractive index is constant, while the impedance exhibits effective motion, i.e. it is a function of $x-vt$. We find that waves…
We derive an approach to define the causal direction of the wavevector of modes in optical metamaterials, which in turn, determines signs of refractive index and impedance as a function of {\it real and imaginary} parts of dielectric…
The present study deals with total internal reflection of a plane electromagnetic wave at an infinite plane boundary between a transparent medium and an amplifying or attenuating lower-index medium. Solutions of Maxwell's equations are…
The sign of the refractive index of any medium is soley determined by the requirement that the propagation of an electromagnetic wave obeys Einstein causality. Our analysis shows that this requirement predicts that the real part of the…
Materials that exhibit loss or gain have a complex valued refractive index $n$. Nevertheless, when considering the propagation of optical pulses, using a complex $n$ is generally inconvenient -- hence the standard choice of real-valued…
The set of realizable refractive indices as a function of frequency is considered. For passive media we give bounds for the refractive index variation in a finite bandwidth. Special attention is given to the loss and index variation in the…
Here we re-examine one of the most basic quantities in optics: the refractive index. Considering propagation in a plane, we first develop a general formalism for calculating the direction dependent refractive index in a general…
As predicted by A. Einstein [Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 17, 891 (1905)], the electromagnetic wave reflected at a moving mirror is frequency-upshifted and intensified as high as the mirror velocity is close to the speed of light in vacuum.…