REFLECTIVE OPTICAL-ACTIVITY

Recent positive experimental observations of reflective optical activi ty along gyrotropic and four-fold inversion rotation directions put in to question the traditional form of the reciprocal relations for the d ielectric tenser in the vicinity of the border. We show, however, that the experimental results may be consistently treated using the integr al form of the Maxwell equations. A microscopic picture of the non-rev ersality of optical interaction with zinc blende materials which break s the kinetic coefficient symmetry is also presented.