Frustrated total internal reflection evanescent switching

The mechanism of frustrated total internal reflection was analyzed accordin g to the theory of optical film. The transmission and refection functions w ere developed and the curves of transmission and reflection changing from t he relative gap width d/lambda, incident angle theta(0), and refraction ind ex n were shown in graphs. We proposed a scheme of experimental device to t est the theoretical conclusion. A self-made electronic actuator drove the p iezoelectric ceramics of FTIR. Experiments showed that the evanescent of tr ansmission is 80% for He-Ne laser and smaller for YAG laser and Er:glass la ser. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.