Journal of the European Optical Society - Rapid publications, Vol 3 (2008)
Transmission coefficient of a one-dimensional layered medium from a light-path sum
Abstract
The transmission coefficient for the amplitude of an electromagnetic field that propagates through a one-dimensional N-layer medium is obtained from summing the coefficients that belong to the individual transmitted light-paths. The medium does not have to be periodic; the layers can have arbitrary physical lengths and arbitrary field response parameters. As compared to the traditional transfer-matrix derivation for the transmission coefficient, the sum-over-all-paths derivation results in a transparent representation that reveals that the presence of the medium can effectively be described as a self-interaction of the field.
© The Authors. All rights reserved. [DOI: 10.2971/jeos.2008.08013]
Full Text:
PDF
Citation Details
Cite this articleReferences
P. Yeh, "Optical Waves in Layered Media", John Wiley and Sons, (1988).
J. D. Joannopoulos, R. D. Meade and J. N. Winn, "Photonic Crystals, Molding the Flow of Light", Princeton University Press, (1995).
M. Born and E. Wolf, "Principles of Optics", Pergamon Press, fifth edition, (1975).
J. D. Jackson, "Classical Electrodynamics", John Wiley and Sons, (1998).
P. Yeh, A. Yariv and C.-S. Hong, "Electromagnetic propagation in periodic stratified media I. General theory" J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67, 423-438 (1977).