Depolarization of the scattered light on internal reflection from surface acoustic waves on fused quartz. I. Theory

摘要

The theory of light scattering on internal reflection from surface acoustic waves (SAW’s) for the geometry where the incident plane is perpendicular to the SAW propagation direction is described. The surface corrugation and the acoustically induced optical polarized fields are calculated and the appropriate polarization driven wave equation is solved. The scattering of both s‐ and p‐polarized incident light is discussed. In this theory, we predict that the intensity of light on internal reflection from SAW on fused quartz is very strong near the grazing angles for both s‐ and p‐polarizations of the incident light and the scattering light is depolarized. Furthermore, we predict that the scattered light is left elliptically polarized if the incident light is s‐polarized and right elliptically polarized if the incident light is p‐polarized. A simple physical model is proposed to explain the depolarization effect.