MODELLING OF LIGHT PROPAGATION IN ANISOTRPOPIC MATERIALS

Owing to their peculiar characteristics, optically anisotropic media are widely used in manufacturing of various optical equipment: polarizers, optical analyzers, optical filters, harmonics generators, different kinds of laboratory equipment, liquid crystal displays, etc. Since optical characteristics of anisotropic media vary based on the direction of wave travel, practice shows that a single layer of optically anisotropic material can replace a multiple structure of isotropic layers with various optical characteristics. This fact gives us economic and technological benefits in manufacturing optical devices, in particular - polarizers for different purposes. This paper deals with modeling of light wave propagation in anisotropic materials. We used analytical method of obtaining expressions for the amplitude and energetic reflection coefficients for the TE- and TM- polarized electromagnetic waves reflected from the plane interface between optically isotropic and optically anisotropic half-infinite sphere. The practical value of this work is based on the fact that the problem is solved for the case of arbitrary oriented coordinate system, which makes the application of the obtained formulas universal. The formulas are also obtained for the reflected spectrum resulting in more accurate numerical calculations.