This paper discusses the theoretical bases and experimental implementa
tion of a new optical method for studying the surface and the near-sur
face layers-frustrated total internal-reflection (FTIR) reflective she
aring refractometry. This method uses the complementarity property of
the information concerning the optical characteristics of an object gi
ven by the reflection coefficients and the ellipsometric parameters du
ring the transition from external reflection to FTIR. (C) 1997 The Opt
ical Society of America.