Eigenmode scattering relations for plane-stratified gyrotropic media

Abstract

We consider the 4×4 scattering matrixS for a plane wave incident on a plane-stratified gyrotropic multilayer slab, which is assumed to have a single symmetry axis (the magnetisation vector in a ferrite sheet, or the external magnetic field direction in a plane-stratified magnetoplasma). In the given (original) problem the plane of incidence is at an azimuthal angle ϕ with respect to the magnetic meridian plane (the plane containing the normal to the stratification, and the gyrotropic symmetry axis), and there is a corresponding “conjugate” set of wave fields, in which the plane of incidence is at an azimuthal angle (π−ϕ), with a corresponding conjugate scattering matrixS′. Adjoint wave fields, obtained by reversing the magnetic symmetry vector, are used to yield the eigenmode amplitudes required in the definition of the scattering matrices. At an interface between two adjacent layers the scattering matrices are shown to be uniquely determined by the characteristic wave polarisations, and this is used to prove that the given and conjugate scattering matrices,S andS′, for the overall multilayer system are mutually transposed, i.e.\(S = \tilde S'\).