Goos-Hänchen lateral shift for Gaussian beams reflected at achiral-chiral interfaces.

DEPINE, RICARDO; BONOMO, NÉSTOR

Optik

Elsevier

Año: 1996 vol. 103 p. 37 - 41

0030-4026

We investigate theoretically the spatial structure of electromagnetic Gaussian beams reflected at the flat interface of a chiral medium when the medium of incidence is achiral. We show that, due to the birefringence of the chiral medium, the Goos-Hänchen lateral displacement suffered by the beam upon reflection is maximum at two angles of incidence very close to those for which the right and left circularly polarized waves transmitted into the chiral medium become evanescent. We also show that both co- and cross-polarized components of the reflected beam can exhibit lateral shifts either in the forward or in the backward direction with respect to the incident beam.