Reflection and transmission of Gaussian beam from a uniaxial crystal slab

¹ Department of Physics, Shanghai University - Shanghai 200444, PRC
² State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Shanghai 201800, PRC
³ Department of Communication Engineering, Shanghai University Shanghai 200072, PRC

Corresponding author: yanwang@staff.shu.edu.cn

Received: 6 June 2006
Accepted: 3 July 2007

Abstract

We investigate the characteristics of Gaussian beams reflected and transmitted from a uniaxial crystal slab with an arbitrary orientation of its optical axis. The formulas of the total electric and magnetic fields inside and outside the slab are derived by use of Maxwell's equations and by matching the boundary conditions at the interfaces. Numerical simulations are presented and the field values as well as the power densities are computed. Negative refractions are demonstrated when the beam is transmitted through a uniaxial crystal slab. Beam splitting of the reflected beam is observed and is explained by the resonant transmission for plane waves. Dependences of the lateral shift on the incident angle and beam width are discussed. Negative and positive lateral shifts are observed due to the spatial anisotropic properties.