Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Birefringent Multilayers*

Abstract

A theoretical treatment of the reflection and transmission properties of a stack of birefringent plates, surrounded by semi-infinite birefringent media, is presented. The orientation of the principal dielectric axes for each plate is restricted to the case for which one principal axis is perpendicular to the plane of incidence. The analysis treats only incident waves having electric fields polarized parallel to the plane of incidence. For numerical illustration, the effects due to slight misalignment of the optic axis in a calcite Berek rotary compensator are examined.