The Calculation of the Refraction Angle of Light Propagation at Metal Interface

The light propagation within a metal and the refraction at the interface of metals are studied.On the basis of unit vectors denoting the planes of constant field amplitude and constant phase,respectively,the light propagation and attenuation are described by the complex refractive index of the metal and the angle between the unit vectors,with the expression for the light propagation.Subject to corresponding boundary conditions,refractive angles of the light through the metal/medium and medium/metal interface have been obtained.The numerical analysis shows that resutls for the metal/medium case agree with those the Born and Wolf using snell′s law.The angle of refraction metal/medium depend not only on the incident angle,the refractive index of medium,and the complex refractive index of metal,but also on the angle between the planes of constant amplitude and of constant phase.While the angle between the two unit vectors satisfies a certain relation,the angle of refraction increases first and then decreases with the increase of incident angle.