THE REFLECTION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC-WAVES FROM UNIAXIAL OPTICALLY-ACTIVE MEDIA

This paper investigates the reflection of electromagnetic waves at the boundary between an isotropic non-active medium and a uniaxial optica lly active medium. The anisotropic gyrotropic medium is described by c onstitutive relations, invariant to duality transformations. A Fresnel -type boundary problem is solved in two geometries: (i) optical axis p erpendicular to the reflecting boundary and (ii) optical axis perpendi cular to the plane of incidence. The components of the electric field and the intensity of the reflected and refracted waves are determined. Differential reflection methods for studying the optical activity are discussed in the cases of: ordinary reflection of left and right circ ularly polarized waves; total reflection of circularly polarized waves ; and total reflection of linearly polarized waves.