Bessel beam through a dielectric slab at oblique incidence: the case of total reflection

The oblique incidence of a Bessel beam on a dielectric slab with refractive index n1 surrounded by a medium of a refractive index n > n1 may be studied simply by expanding the Bessel beam into a set of plane waves forming the same angle θ0 with the axis of the beam. In the present paper we examine a Bessel beam that impinges at oblique incidence onto a layer in such a way that each plane-wave component impinges with an angle larger than the critical angle. The propagation of a Bessel beam, or Bessel wave[1], represents an interesting topic both for its implication in relation to superluminal motion[2, 3], and for its spatial localization, which makes it a good candidate for all practical applications where a localized field is required[4, 5]. The propagation of a Bessel beam through a dielectric slab, for normal incidence and in the presence of total reflection, has already been analyzed by Shaarawi and Besieris[6] and Mugnai[7]. Furthermore , propagation in a layered medium for normal and oblique incidences, in the absence of total reflection, has also been studied[8]. The aim of the present work is to analyze a Bessel beam impinging onto a plane slab at oblique incidence, in the case in which all the waves forming the beam are in total reflection. The main interest of this kind of analysis is to investigate if the beam propagates by maintaining its characteristic of localized wave also in the case of oblique incidence. Let us consider a simple system formed by two half-spaces that are filled with a homogeneous and non-dispersive medium of refractive index n, and separated [email protected] Former: “Nello Carrara” Electromagnetic Waves Research Institute