Theory of Reflection - Reflection and Transmission of Electromagnetic, Particle and Acoustic Waves

This book deals with the reflection of electromagnetic and particle waves by interfaces. The interfaces can be sharp or diffuse. The topics of the book contain absorption, inverse problems, anisotropy, pulses and finite beams, rough surfaces, matrix methods, numerical methods,  reflection of particle waves and neutron reflection. Exact general results are presented, followed by long wave reflection, variational theory, reflection amplitude equations of the Riccati type, and reflection of short waves. The Second Edition of the Theory of Reflection is an updated and much enlarged revision of the 1987 monograph. There are new chapters on periodically stratified media, ellipsometry, chiral media, neutron reflection and reflection of acoustic waves. The chapter on anisotropy is much extended, with a complete treatment of the reflection and transmission properties of arbitrarily oriented uniaxial crystals. The book gives a systematic and unified treatment reflection and transmission of electromagnetic and particle waves at interfaces. It is intended for physicists, chemists, applied mathematicians and engineers, and is written in a simple direct style, with all necessary mathematics explained in the text.


John Lekner is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Victoria University of Wellington. He has a PhD from the University of Chicago, and has taught at Cambridge, where he was a Fellow of Emmanuel College. He has worked mainly in statistical physics, quantum mechanics and electrodynamics. He has published more than 140 papers, of which about 40 are reflection-related.