PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)

Transverse shifts of a reected light beam from the air-chiral interface

Guoding Xu,
*
Taocheng Zang, Hongmin Mao, and Tao Pan
Department of Physics, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, P.R. China
(Received 16 January 2011; published 19 May 2011)
Based on a general beam-propagation model, we derive in the paraxial approximation the analytical expressions
for the spatial transverse shift (TS) and the angular TS of a beamreected fromthe air-chiral interface. The results
show that the TSs are closely related to the propagation behaviors of the right-circularly polarized (RCP) and
the left-circularly polarized (LCP) waves in the chiral medium. When the L(R)CP wave becomes evanescent, the
left (right)-elliptically polarized incident beam suffers a smaller TS. When the L(R)CP wave propagates, the left
(right)-elliptically polarized incident beam experiences a greater TS. When the total internal reection happens,
neither of the two elliptically polarized incident beams suffers TSs. TSs can be controlled not only by adjusting
the central angle of incidence, but also by tailoring the permittivity, permeability, and chirality parameter of the
chiral medium.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.053828 PACS number(s): 42.25.Gy, 41.20.Jb, 42.25.Bs, 78.20.Bh
I. INTRODUCTION
Reection and refraction of a plane electromagnetic wave
at the interface separating two homogeneous isotropic media
is described by the Snell law and Fresnel formulas [1], which
is commonplace in optics and electrodynamics. However, in
most real cases, we must tackle a light beam that comprises a
coherent bundle of plane waves with different wave vectors.
Although each of the plane-wave components obeys the Snell
law and Fresnel formulas, the diffractive corrections occur
after their superposition. Naturally, the light beam can exhibit
new properties dissimilar to those in a separate plane wave.
First, in the plane of incidence, the centroid of the reected
or refracted beam undergoes a longitudinal shift, which is
called the Goos-H anchen (GH) shift [2] and has been widely
studied both theoretically [36] and experimentally [79].
Besides, a circularly (or elliptically) polarized incident beam
experiences a transverse shift (TS) perpendicular to the plane
of incidence when reecting or refracting. This effect was
originally predicted by Fedorov [10] and later conrmed
experimentally by Imbert [11]. From then on, TS has been
analyzed in quite a few papers [1218].
Actually, TS plays a fundamental part in electrodynamics:
it is responsible for the conservation of the total angular mo-
mentum of an electromagnetic beam, including the intrinsic,
spin part [1620]. Moreover, TS allows us to observe the
spin-Hall effect (SHE) of light which was rst proposed by
Onoda et al. [20] in 2004. The effect is the spin-dependent TS
of a beam perpendicular to the refractive index gradient. More
specically, on reection or refraction, a linearly polarized
beam impinging on an interface is split into right- and left-
circularly polarized ones, whose shifts are oppositely directed.
Since the SHE of light was explained successfully [17,19]
and afrmed experimentally via quantum weak measurements
[21], the studies of TS have recently aroused considerable
interest. Much work has been conducted in different interface
systems, such as air-glass interface [21,22], metamaterial
interfaces [23,24], isotropic-uniaxial interfaces [25,26], and
anisotropic interfaces [27,28]. The pertinent ndings show
*
guodingxu@163.com
that the interface features, e.g., the refractive index gradient
across the interface, have an important impact on TS.
However, up to now, the reports have been relatively
decient on the TS of a beam reected from or trans-
mitted through a dielectric-chiral interface. In this paper,
we analyze theoretically the TSs of a reected beam from
the air-chiral interface, while the transmission case can be
discussed likewise because of the mathematical derivations
similar to the reection case. The chiral medium is well
known in the optical frequencies for the optical activity
and the circular dichroism [29]. Some applications of chiral
media have been proposed (see, e.g., [3032]). At microwave
frequencies, the chiral medium can be realized articially by
using miniature wire spirals or conducting springs, which
provide additional interaction of electric and magnetic elds
inside the medium. Thus, the medium can possess articially
tunable electromagnetic properties which are not displayed
by a conventional isotropic medium. In consequence, at such
a chiral interface it should be potentially possible to yield a
number of entirely novel phenomena on TS.
In Sec. II, we derive in the paraxial approximation the
analytical expression for the TSs of a reected beam from
the air-chiral interface. Based on the representation of the
plane-wave angular spectrum, we rst establish a general
beam-propagation model to describe the beam reection.
From this model, we can obtain simultaneously the analytical
expressions for the spatial and the angular TSs. Next, in
Sec. III we discuss the dependences of the TSs on the central
angle of incidence, the physical parameters describing the
electromagnetic features of the chiral medium, such as the
permittivity, the permeability, and the chirality parameter.
Our results show that these physical parameters inuence
greatly the propagation of the waves inside the chiral medium
and thereby affect the properties of TSs. This furnishes us
with the possibility of controlling the properties of TSs by
tailoring these physical parameters. In this connection, the
chiral mediumhas an advantage over the isotropic one. Finally,
we end up with the main conclusions in Sec. IV.
II. THEORY MODEL
Without loss of generality, assuming a monochromatic light
beam impinges from the air side on the interface between air
053828-1 1050-2947/2011/83(5)/053828(7) 2011 American Physical Society
GUODING XU, TAOCHENG ZANG, HONGMIN MAO, AND TAO PAN PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)
x
y
z
O

r
RCP
LCP
y
i
z
i
x
i
y
r
x
r
z
r
air
Chiral medium
FIG. 1. Geometry of the beam reection from and transmission
through the air-chiral interface.
and an isotropic chiral medium, then it is convenient to take
the z axis of the laboratory coordinate systemO xyz normal
to the interface and directed from air to the chiral medium, as
illustrated in Fig. 1. We choose the origin O such that the
interface is located at z = 0; in addition, we use the coordinate
systems O x
i
y
i
z
i
and O x
r
y
r
z
r
attached, respectively, to
the incident and the reected beams. Let k
0
= k
0
z
i
with k
0
=
/c and k = k
0

k with

k = e
1
e
2
represent, respectively, the
central and noncentral wave vectors of the incident beam,
where z
i
= x sin + z cos with x and z being unit vectors
directed along the laboratory x and z axes and being the
central angle of incidence; the polarization unit basis vectors
e
1
and e
2
are chosen in such a way that e
1
lies in the plane
containing both k and z axis, i.e., the plane of incidence with
respect to k, and e
2
is orthogonal to such a plane. Usually,
when the electric eld of a plane wave is parallel to either e
1
or e
2
, the wave is called either a TM (or p) or a TE (or s)
wave.
In the angular spectrum representation, the electric eld of
the incident beam on the air side can be written as [33]
E
I
(X
i
,Y
i
,Z
i
) =


E
I
(U,V)e
j(UX
i
+VY
i
+WZ
i
)
dUdV, (1)
where the incident angular spectrum

E
I
(U,V) = ( e
1
, e
2
)
(

2
)A(U,V); U, V, and W are the direction cosines of k in
the coordinate systemO x
i
y
i
z
i
; the dimensionless variables
X
a
= k
0
x
a
, Y
a
= k
0
y
a
, Z
a
= k
0
z
a
, with a = i or r; A(U,V)
and
m
(U,V)(m = 1,2) are the scalar and the vector spectral
amplitudes of the eld, respectively. A(U,V) determines the
spatial characteristics of the beam [34]. For a collimated beam
with a Gaussian spectral amplitude
A(U,V) = e
(
U
2
+V
2

2
0
)
e
jWD
, (2)
where
0
= 2/(k
0
w
0
) is the angular spread of the incident
beam with its waist w
0
at Z
i
= D [33].
m
(U,V) describes
the beams polarization [34]. Suppose the polarizer plate
across which the incident beam has passed is perpendicular
to the central wave vector k
0
, and the complex-valued unit
vector

f = f
P
x
i
+f
S
y
i
with |f
P
|
2
+|f
S
|
2
= 1 denotes the
orientation of the polarizer, then in the paraxial approximation
(U
2
+V
2
1) we have [35]

1 V cot
V cot 1

f
P
f
S

. (3)
In light of the Fourier transformations, the electric eld of
the reected beam obeys
E
R
(X
r
,Y
r
,Z
r
) =


E
R
(U,V)e
j(UX
r
+VY
r
+WZ
r
)
dUdV, (4)
where the reected angular spectrumis related to the boundary
distribution of electric eld through [35]

E
R
= ( e
r1
, e
r2
)r

A(U,V), (5)
and the unit vectors e
r1
, e
r2
for a well-collimated paraxial beam
are determined by [35]

e
r1
e
r2

1 V cot
V cot 1

x
r
y
r

. (6)
As known, in general, anisotropic or chiral media TE and
TM waves are not the eigenmodes of Maxwells equations,
so that the reected wave must be a combination of the
perpendicular and parallel components so as to meet the
boundary conditions. In this way, we describe the reection
of a wave by using the so-called reection matrix r, which is
dened as [36]
r =

r
pp
r
ps
r
sp
r
ss

, (7)
where r
ab
is the ratio of the amplitudes of a reected wave with
a polarization to an incident wave with b polarization; each a
and b denotes either s or p waves. Notably, r
ab
is a function
of U, V and dependent on , and thus it can be expanded in a
Taylor series. In the linear approximation, this yields [19,35]
r
ab
(U,V) = r
ab
(0,0) +U
r
ab
(U,V)
U

U = 0
V = 0
= r
ab
(0,0) +U
r
ab
(0,0)

, (8)
where r
ab
(0,0), which depends on , is obviously the ordinary
reection coefcient with respect to the central wave vector of
the incident beam. It follows fromEqs. (3), (5)(8) that the two
components of

E
R
(U,V) in the coordinate systemO x
r
y
r
z
r
are expressible as

E
x
r
(U,V) = {[r
pp
+Ur

pp
+(r
sp
r
ps
)V cot ]f
P
+[r
ps
+Ur

ps
+(r
ss
+r
pp
)V cot ]f
S
}A(U,V),
(9a)
and

E
y
r
(U,V) = {[r
sp
+Ur

sp
(r
pp
+r
ss
)V cot ]f
P
+[r
ss
+Ur

ss
+(r
sp
r
ps
)V cot ]f
S
}A(U,V),
(9b)
where r
ab
r
ab
(0,0) and r

ab

r
ab
(0,0)

, and the conventions

will be kept henceforth.
A TS of the reected beam with respect to the mirror
image of the incident beam can be assessed by measuring
the position of the centroid of the reected beam with a
quadrant detector centered at x
r
= 0 and y
r
= 0 along the
reference axis z
r
attached to the reected central wave vector
k
0r
= k
0
z
r
. The shift is proportional to the rst-order moments
m
r
= X
r
x
r
+Y
r
y
r
of the intensity distribution function
053828-2
TRANSVERSE SHIFTS OF A REFLECTED LIGHT BEAM . . . PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)
I(X
r
,Y
r
,Z
r
) of the beam, where
m
r
=

m
r
I(X
r
,Y
r
,Z
r
)dX
r
dY
r

I(X
r
,Y
r
,Z
r
)dX
r
dY
r
, (10)
determines the centroid of the reected beam [34]. As a result,
the TS can be derived from
Y
r
=

Y
r
I(X
r
,Y
r
,Z
r
)dX
r
dY
r

I(X
r
,Y
r
,Z
r
)dX
r
dY
r
=
j

E
R
V


E

R
dUdV +Z
r

V
W
|

E
R
|dUdV

E
R
|
2
dUdV
. (11)
Keeping up to the rst-order term of U and V only and
after a cumbersome calculation, we obtain the TS Y
r
, which
consists of two parts, i.e., Y
r
=
ry
+Z
r

ry
. The rst part

ry
is Z
r
independent and linked to the spatial TS S
ry
, which
is given by
S
ry
=

ry
k
0
=
C
k
0
D
cot , (12)
and the second one is associated with the angular TS
ry
,
obeying

ry
=
1
2
F
D

2
0
, (13)
with
C = Im[r
pp
r

ps
+r
sp
r

ss
+2(r
sp
r

pp
|f
P
|
2
+r
ss
r

ps
|f
S
|
2
)
f
P
f

S
(|r
pp
|
2
+|r
ss
|
2
+2r
pp
r

ss
+|r
sp
|
2
+|r
ps
|
2
2r
sp
r

ps
)], (14a)
D = (|r
pp
|
2
+|r
sp
|
2
)|f
P
|
2
+(|r
ss
|
2
+|r
ps
|
2
)|f
S
|
2
+2Re[f
P
f

S
(r
pp
r

ps
+r
sp
r

ss
)], (14b)
and
F = Re[(|f
S
|
2
|f
P
|
2
)(r
pp
r

ps
+r
sp
r

ss
)
+f
P
f

S
(|r
pp
|
2
|r
ss
|
2
+|r
sp
|
2
|r
ps
|
2
)], (14c)
where Im(. . .) and Re(. . .) imply the evaluation of the
imaginary and the real parts of a complex number, respectively,
and the asterisk (

) marks the complex conjugate. Evidently,

in comparison with an isotropic interface, the cross-polarized
reection coefcients r
sp
and r
ps
play a role in a TS. For an
interface between two isotropic homogeneous media, r
sp
=
r
ps
= 0, Eqs. (12) and (13) can exactly reduce to the form
in Refs. [24,34]. Equation (13) means that the smaller the
beams waist, the greater the angular TS is, and the more
notable the diffractive effect becomes; therefore, the angular
TS can be viewed as the combined contribution of diffraction
and polarization [24]. Furthermore, for a circularly polarized
beam, |f
S
| = |f
P
|, f
P
f

S
is purely imaginary, and hence
F = 0. It follows from Eqs. (13) and (14c) that circularly
polarized beams impinging on any planar interfaces do not
suffer the angular TSs.
Here, we should stress that Eqs. (12) and (13) can
be applied to various planar interfaces, including isotropic,
anisotropic, chiral, bi-isotropic, and bi-anisotropic interfaces,
etc., provided that the reection matrix can be determined. For
an air-chiral interface, the elements of the reection matrix are
given by [36]
r
pp
=
(1 g
2
)(cos
+
+cos

) cos 2g(cos
2
cos
+
cos

)
(1 +g
2
)(cos
+
+cos

) cos +2g(cos
2
+cos
+
cos

)
, (15a)
r
ps
= r
sp
=
2jg(cos
+
cos

) cos
(1 +g
2
)(cos
+
+cos

) cos +2g(cos
2
+cos
+
cos

)
, (15b)
r
ss
=
(1 g
2
)(cos
+
+cos

) cos +2g(cos
2
cos
+
cos

)
(1 +g
2
)(cos
+
+cos

) cos +2g(cos
2
+cos
+
cos

)
, (15c)
with
g =

/, cos

1
sin
2

n
2

, (16)
where

and n

= (n ) are, respectively, the angles of

refraction and the refractive indices of the two transmitted
waves in the chiral medium, namely, the right-circularly
polarized (RCP) wave (an observer can see the clockwise
rotation of the electric eld vector when he is facing into
the oncoming energy stream) and the left-circularly polarized
(LCP) wave; n =

is the average index of the two
transmitted waves, and , , and (assumed to be positive
in this paper) are the relative permittivity, permeability, and
the chirality parameters of the chiral medium, respectively. If
we let

= 90

, then the critical angles of incidence

c
can
be found:

c
= arcsin |n

|, (17)
where we have allowed for the existence of the negative
refraction, because recent studies have shown that > n is
possible at least at or near the resonant frequency of the
permittivity of a chiral medium (called chiral nihility [37]).
For > 0, it is distinct that
c+
is always greater than
c
, and
then there exist three possibilities, namely,
(i) When <
c
, both the RCPand LCPwaves propagate.
Their directions of propagation are given by Eq. (16).
(ii) When
c
< <
c+
, only the RCP wave can propa-
gate, and the LCP wave becomes evanescent.
(iii) When >
c+
, neither of the waves propagates and
there is total internal reection of the two waves into air.
053828-3
GUODING XU, TAOCHENG ZANG, HONGMIN MAO, AND TAO PAN PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)
Clearly, the central angle of incidence , characteristic
parameters of the chiral medium , (or n), and affect
the propagation properties of the waves in the chiral medium.
III. NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, we apply Eqs. (12)(15a) to the specic
air-chiral interfaces. For convenience, we introduce the polar-
ization operator = 2Im(f

p
f
S
) to describe the polarization
state of a beam. In our calculations, we choose the nonmagnetic
chiral medium, viz., its permeability = 1 and utilize the
right- and left-elliptically polarized beams as the incident
ones with the polarization states = 2/3 corresponding,
respectively, to (f
P
,f
S
) = (1, 1 j)/

3. As is known, the
paraxial approximation requires that the transverse size of
a beam is much greater than its wavelength [38]; as a
consequence, we choose the wavelength = 1.06 m and the
waist of beam w
0
= 25 m. Below, we consider two different
cases.
Case (a) n < 1; air is optically denser than the chiral
medium. In this case, the total internal reection can take
place for a proper chirality parameter . To shed light on
the connections between TS and the propagation of the
waves in the chiral medium, choosing n = 0.6 we depict the
dependences of the reectivity, the spatial and the angular
TSs on the central angle of incidence in Figs. 2(a)2(c)
for = 0.3 and in Figs. 2(d)2(f) for = 1. It is clear from
Fig. 2(a) that all the reectivity curves (the solid, dashed, and
dash-dot lines for |r
ss
|
2
, |r
pp
|
2
, and |r
ps
|
2
, respectively) attain
their two extrema near the two critical angles of incidence

c
= 17.46

and
c+
= 64.16

, respectively. It should be
noted that when >
c+
, the reectivity curves |r
ss
|
2
and
|r
pp
|
2
merge due to |r
pp
|
2
+|r
sp
|
2
= 1 and |r
ss
|
2
+|r
ps
|
2
= 1
on the total internal reection.
c
divides the reectivity
curves into three distinct parts, corresponding to the three
propagation types of waves, respectively, as demonstrated in
Sec. II. Obviously, the propagation behaviors of waves in
the chiral medium impose a great effect on the reection
characteristics of waves, and thereby on the TSs. We plot the
spatial and angular TSs as functions of in Figs. 2(b) and 2(c),
respectively. As expected, both the spatial and the angular TSs
are closely associated with the propagation behaviors of the
waves in the chiral mediumas well as their polarizations. More
specically, when both the RCP and LCP waves propagate in
the chiral medium( <
c
), the spatial TSs that the right- and
left-elliptically polarized beams undergo are almost identical
in magnitude but opposite in direction, which is very similar to
the result in the isotropic interface [1619,24,39]. This is due
to nearly vanishing |r
ps
|
2
(=|r
sp
|
2
) for <
c
[see Fig. 2(a)].
In the above case, both the right- and left-elliptically polarized
beams experience negative angular TSs, and the angular TSs
become larger as increases. When the RCP wave propagates
and the LCP wave becomes evanescent (
c
< <
c+
), the
right-elliptically polarized beam( = 2/3) suffers the positive
spatial TSs and the large angular TSs but varying from
negative to positive values with , whereas the left-elliptically
polarized beam( = 2/3) experiences the very minor spatial
and angular TSs. When both the RCP and LCP waves
become evanescent, i.e., the total internal reection takes place
( >
c+
), neither of the two elliptically polarized beams
suffers the spatial or angular TSs. We conclude from these
results that when the L(R)CP wave becomes evanescent in the
20 40 60 80
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
(deg)
R
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
20 40 60 80
4
2
0
2
4
(deg)
S
y
r

/

20 40 60 80
100
50
0
50
(deg)

y
r

(
s
)
20 40 60 80
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
(deg)
R
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
20 40 60 80
4
2
0
2
4
(deg)
S
y
r

/

20 40 60 80
60
40
20
0
20
(deg)

y
r

(
s
)
=2/3
=2/3
|r
ss
|
2
|r
pp
|
2
|r
sp
|
2
, |r
ps
|
2
(a)
(b)
(c)
=2/3
=2/3
(d)
(e)
(f)
=2/3
=2/3
=2/3
=2/3
|r
ss
|
2
|r
pp
|
2
|r
sp
|
2
, |r
ps
|
2
FIG. 2. (Color online) Dependences of the
reectivity, the spatial TS and the angular TS
(in seconds) on for n = 0.6. The reectivity
curves for (a) = 0.3 and (d) = 0.6, where
the solid, dashed, and dash-dot lines correspond
to |r
ss
|
2
, |r
pp
|
2
, and |r
sp
|
2
(|r
ps
|
2
), respectively.
(b) and (e) for the spatial TS curves, and (c) and
(f) for the angular TS curves, where the solid and
dashed lines correspond to the right- and left-
elliptically polarized incident beams with =
2/3, reectivity; (b) and (c) for = 0.3; (e)
and (f) for = 0.6.
053828-4
TRANSVERSE SHIFTS OF A REFLECTED LIGHT BEAM . . . PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)
chiral medium, the left (right)-elliptically polarized incident
beamsuffers a smaller TS; when the L(R)CP wave propagates,
the left (right)-elliptically polarized incident beamexperiences
a greater TS; when the total internal reection happens, neither
of the two elliptically polarized incident beams suffer TSs.
Anyway, the propagation properties of the waves in the chiral
medium indeed affect the TSs of the elliptically polarized
incident beams.
For the case = 1, we have n
+
> 1 and n

= 0.4, and
then the RCP wave always propagates in the chiral medium,
while the LCP wave is refracted negatively for <
c
(= 23.58

) and evanescent for >

c
. Consequently, the total
internal reection cannot happen in the case [see Fig. 2(d)]. It
is clear from Figs. 2(e) and 2(f) that for <
c
and >
c
the dependences of the spatial and angular TSs on are very
analogous to those in the case = 0.3.
Next, we turn to case (b), where n > 1 and air is optically
rarer than the chiral medium. In this case, the total internal
reection cannot occur. Choosing n = 1.5, in a way similar to
case (a), we plot the dependences of the reectivity, the spatial
and angular TSs on in Figs. 3(a)3(c) for = 0.4 and in
Figs. 3(d)3(f) for = 1.1. When = 0.4, both n

are greater
than unity; therefore, both the RCP and LCP waves propagate
in the chiral medium. Figure 3(b) illustrates that the spatial TSs
suffered by the right- and left-elliptically polarized beams are
almost the same in magnitude but opposite in direction, which
is just the physical mechanism underlying the SHE of light.
However, it is noteworthy that their angular TSs are the same
in sign [see Fig. 3(c)]. The above results concur with those in
the isotropic interface [1619,24,39]. This is because is by
far smaller than n, and the mediums chirality cannot show up
sufciently, as can be veried from the tiny cross-polarized
reection coefcients r
ps
(r
sp
) [see Fig. 3(a)].
When = 1.1, we have n
+
> 1 and n

= 0.4. Apparently,
this case is similar to that for n = 0.6, = 1 shown in
Figs. 2(d)2(f); that is, the RCP wave always propagates,
while the LCP wave propagates for <
c
(=23.58

) and
becomes evanescent for >
c
. Interestingly, however, the
reectivity curves for |r
ss
|
2
and for |r
pp
|
2
nearly interchange, as
compared with Fig. 2(d). Owing to the interchange, the angular
TSs become positive for the two elliptically polarized beams,
which differs from the case n = 0.6, = 1 [cf. Figs. 2(f)
and 3(f)].
To facilitate the following discussion, we here demonstrate
the two special points concerning the chiral medium: the chiral
nihility [37] mentioned above, where n = 0, while = 0, and
the traditional limitation point (n = ) n

= 0, a singular
point, where is very close to n and the strong spatial
dispersion occurs.
It was reported that the refractive index gradient plays a
crucial role in the TSs [1622,24,26]. In practice, the alteration
of n or of the chiral medium implies the change in refractive
index gradient. The advent of metamaterials offers us the
possibility of tailoring n and articially. Hence, in what
follows we discuss the dependences of the TSs on n and .
The propagating RCP wave can be easily achieved in the
20 40 60 80
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
(deg)
R
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
20 40 60 80
4
2
0
2
4
(deg)
S
r
y

/

20 40 60 80
8
6
4
2
0
(deg)

r
y

(
s
)
20 40 60 80
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
(deg)
R
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
20 40 60 80
4
2
0
2
4
(deg)
S
r
y

/

20 40 60 80
20
0
20
40
60

r
y

(
s
)
=2/3
=2/3
|r
ss
|
2
|r
pp
|
2
|r
ps
|
2
, |r
sp
|
2
|r
ss
|
2
|r
pp
|
2
|r
ps
|
2
(a)
(b)
(c)
=2/3
=2/3
=2/3
=2/3
=2/3
=2/3
(d)
(e)
(f)
FIG. 3. (Color online) Dependences of the
reectivity, the spatial TS, and the angular TS
(in seconds) on the central angle of incidence
for n = 1.5. The reectivity curves for (a)
= 0.4 and (d) = 1.1, where the solid,
dashed, and dash- dot lines correspond to |r
ss
|
2
,
|r
pp
|
2
, and |r
sp
|
2
(|r
ps
|
2
), respectively. (b) and
(e) for the spatial TS curves, and (c) and (f)
for the angular TS curves, where the solid
and dashed lines correspond to the right- and
left-elliptically polarized incident beams with
= 2/3, reectivity; (b) and (c) for = 0.4;
(e) and (f) for = 1.1.
053828-5
GUODING XU, TAOCHENG ZANG, HONGMIN MAO, AND TAO PAN PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)
00.158 0.5 0.8421 1.5 2
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
n
S
r
y

/

00.158 0.5 0.8421 1.5 2

40
20
0
20
40
60
80
100
n

r
y

(
s
)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
n
S
r
y

/

0 0.5 1 1.5 2
60
40
20
0
20
40
60
80
n

r
y

(
s
)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
A
B
C
A
B
C
20
30
40
40
20
30
20
30
40
20
30
40
FIG. 4. (Color online) Dependences of the spatial TS and the angular TS (in seconds) on n for the right-elliptically polarized incident beam
with = 2/3. The spatial TS curves for (a) = 0.5 and (c) = 1, and the angular TS curves for (b) = 0.5 and (d) = 1, where the solid,
dashed, and dash-dot lines correspond to = 20

,30

, and 40

, reectivity. In Figs. 4(a) and 4(b), A and C are the critical points where the
total internal reections happen for the LCP wave; B is the traditional limitation point, where n

= 0.
chiral medium thanks to n
+
= n + , and appears to evoke
a great angular TS for the right-elliptically polarized incident
beam. Aiming at such an incident beam and different , we
plot the curves of the spatial and angular TSs versus n in
Figs. 4(a) and 4(b) for = 0.5 and in Figs. 4(c) and 4(d) for
= 1, respectively. We can rst see from these gures that
at the chiral nihility, the spatial TSs have negative maxima
and the angular TSs are almost absent for these angles of
incidence, and that the greater is, the smaller the spatial and
angular TSs become. Below, we focus only on the solid lines in
Figs. 4(a) and 4(b), i.e., the case = 20

, for which the total

internal reection requires that the mediums critical index
of refraction equals sin 20

= 0.342. Since n
+
= n +0.5 >
0.342 for n > 0, the RCP wave always propagates in this case.
However, considering the negative index, for the LCP wave we
can obtain from n

= n 0.5 = 0.342 two critical indices

n
cL
= 0.158 and n
cH
= 0.842, which correspond exactly,
together with the traditional limitation point at n = 0.5, to
the inexions of the spatial and the angular TS curves, marked
by A, B, and Cin Figs. 4(a) and 4(b), respectively. For n < n
cL
,
the LCP wave propagates and both the spatial and angular TSs
are larger and negative. For n
cL
< n < 0.5 (the part between
the inexions A and B), the LCP wave becomes evanescent,
and the spatial TS is still negative but the angular TS varies
from negative to positive values with n. For 0.5 < n < n
cH
(the part between the inexions Band C), the LCP wave is still
evanescent and the spatial TS attains its maximum (0.8),
while the angular TS varies from positive to negative values
with n. For n > n
cH
, both of the two circularly polarized waves
propagate, and then as n increases, the spatial TS increases
gradually and the angular TS becomes null. The relations
between the TSs and the propagation of waves are in good
agreement with those shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Analogous
analyses can be applied to the other cases, including Figs. 4(c)
and 4(d). Also, in the numerical calculations, we nd that
the variations of the TSs with are fairly similar to their
variations with n, thus they are not shown here. These results
show that we can acquire the desired TSs by designing n and
or adjusting .
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we have established a general beam-
propagation model to describe the beam reection. Based on
this model and the representation of the plane-wave angular
spectrum, we have derived in the paraxial approximation the
analytical expressions for the spatial and angular TSs of a
beam reected from the air-chiral interface. These expressions
can be applied to various planar interfaces, including isotropic,
anisotropic, chiral, bi-isotropic, and bi-anisotropic interfaces.
We have discussed the relations between the TSs and the
propagation behaviors of waves in the chiral medium, and
the effects of the permittivity, permeability, and chirality
parameters of the chiral medium on the TSs. The results show
that the modication of the chiral mediums n or alters
the propagation properties of waves in the chiral medium and
053828-6
TRANSVERSE SHIFTS OF A REFLECTED LIGHT BEAM . . . PHYSICAL REVIEW A 83, 053828 (2011)
hence affects the TSs. With the advent of metamaterials, it is
realizable to articially design these physical parameters of
a chiral metamaterial [4042]. This opens up the possibility
of controlling the properties of TSs by tailoring the physical
parameters of such a chiral metamaterial. In this regard, the
chiral medium has an advantage over the isotropic one.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We express our gratitude to the referees, whose ques-
tions and suggestions helped us elaborate and improve the
manuscript. We also thank Dr. J. Sun for helpful discussions.
This work is supported by the Qinglan Project of Jiangsu
Province.
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