4 - Specular reflection

Summary

Introduction

In this chapter the specular or mirror-like reflection that occurs when a plane electromagnetic wave encounters a plane surface separating two regions with different refractive indices is discussed quantitatively, along with the accompanying transmission, or refraction, through the interface. Specular reflection is important to the topic of this book for several reasons. First, it is an important tool for investigating properties of materials in the laboratory. Second, it occurs in remote-sensing applications when light is reflected from smooth parts of a planetary surface, such as the ocean. Third, it is one of the mechanisms by which light is scattered from a particle whose size is large compared with the wavelength, so that an understanding of this phenomenon is necessary to an understanding of diffuse reflectance from planetary regoliths.

Boundary conditions in electromagnetic theory

Whenever fields contain a boundary separating regions of differing electric or magnetic constants, certain conditions on the continuity of the fields must be satisfied. It is shown in any textbook on electricity and magnetism that the components of D_e and B_m perpendicular to the surface and the components of E_e and H_m tangential to the surface must be continuous across the boundary. If the fields constitute an electromagnetic wave propagating through the surface from one medium to another, it is found that these conditions cannot be satisfied unless there is another wave propagating backward from the surface into the first medium, in addition to the wave propagating forward from the surface into the second medium.