Refraction and reflection from the interface of anisotropic materials

Abstract

In this paper the reflection and refraction of the electromagnetic waves from the planar interface of an anisotropic medium are investigated. The considered anisotropic medium is a uniaxial material whose optical axis lies in the incident plane and makes an arbitrary angle with the normal to the interface. It is shown that the directions of the wave and Poynting vectors of the transmitted wave depend on the incident angle and the orientation of the optical axis of the uniaxial material. Also, the situation that the negative refraction can happen for such media is obtained. In addition, the dependence of the Brewster angle to the orientation of the optical axis of the uniaxial material is considered. More interestingly, it is shown that there is a situation for which the wave and Poynting vectors of the transmitted transverse magnetic wave are parallel.