Reflection and refraction of electromagnetic waves at the plane boundary between two chiral media

Abstract

This work is concerned with the propagation of electromagnetic waves in isotropic chiral media and with the effects produced by a plane boundary between two such media. In analogy with the phenomena of reflection and refraction of plane electromagnetic waves in ordinary dielectrics, the kinematical and dynamical aspects of these phenomena are studied, such as the intensity of the various wave components and the change in the polarization of the wave as it crosses the boundary. As a prerequisite of this, we show that the plane wave solution must be written as a suitable superposition of the circularly amplitudes on both sides of the interface, we elucidate which is the appropriate set of conditions that the solution must satisfy at the boundary, and we set down the minimal, and complete, set of equations that must be solved for the coefficient amplitudes in order to satisfy the boundary conditions. The equations are solved explicitly for some particular cases and configurations (e.g., normal incidence), the salient features of those solutions are analyzed in some detail, and the general solution to the equations is given as well.