An exact approach to frustrated total internal reflection and Goos-Hänchen shift for s-polarised light

Sayanho Biswas, Kolahal Bhattacharya

公開日: 2025/9/19

Abstract

An exact analogy between wave mechanics in quantum theory and the scalar wave treatment of optics emerges from the marriage of Newtonian formulation of geometrical optics [1] and the ``formal quantum theory of light rays'' [2]. Here the incidence of a ray of light on the interface between two media is treated as the incidence of a wavefunction on a potential barrier. This leads to the coefficient of reflection identical to Fresnel's formula for s-polarised light [3], although there is no concept of the polarisation of light in this model. In the present work, we apply this model to the total internal reflection of light and evanescent waves. We also deduce a one-to-one correspondence between the transmission coefficient in wave mechanics and frustrated total internal reflection for all angles of incidence. Further, we demonstrate that this model can also be used to derive the Goos-H\"anchen shift for s-polarised light. This work augments the discussion on these topics found in the standard texts in optics [4].

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