graduate

Variations on a theme of Aharonov and Bohm

TYPETheor./Math. Physics Seminar
Speaker:Prof. M. V. Berry
Affiliation:Bristol
Date:15.05.2011
Time:14:30
Location:Lewiner Seminar Room (412)
Abstract:Lateral and transverse shifts in the direction of arbitrarily polarized electromagnetic waves reflected totally or partially from a denser medium are calculated exactly, in terms of the deviation of the Poynting vector from radial. The shifts are analogous to the Goos-Hänchen and Fedorov-Imbert shifts for beams. There can be a transverse shift even for unreflected dipole radiation if the polarization is not linear. With reflection, there can be a transverse shift even for linear polarization. There are contributions from the geometrical ray, the lateral ray that interferes strongly with it, and the large peak at the Brewster angle (for TM polarization). At the critical angle, the lowest-order asymptotics is inadequate and a more sophisticated treatment is devised.