Approximate analytical solution for waveguide excitation of a plane dielectric layer by a Gaussian beam at frustrated total internal reflection

J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2015 May 1;32(5):843-51. doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.32.000843.

Abstract

We present an approximate 2D asymptotic analytic theory of light field excitation in a plane thin dielectric layer under conditions of frustrated total internal reflection, when an inclined Gaussian beam, falling from a triangular prism, excites a decaying field in air spacing between a prism and a plane dielectric. Ignoring the radiation scattering on the sharp edges of a prism, we have obtained the formulas that allow us to compute spatial structures of an electromagnetic field in every point of space and to estimate the integral efficiency of waveguide mode excitation in a plane dielectric layer and the total energy of a reflected beam. It is shown that the width of an initial Gaussian beam has an effect on waveguide mode intensity.