Optics of magnetic multilayers

Optical response of layered lossy anisotropic media displaying magnetic order is considered. The analysis is based on classical optical terms. Planar magnetic multilayers (ML) are represented by Yeh's 4×4 matrices which relate the field amplitudes in the isotropic half spaces on both sides of a ML structure. Each layer is characterized by a complex permittivity tensor of general form while magnetic permeability assumes its vacuum value. The basic assumption is that the electromagnetic field in a layer can be represented by a linear combination of four eigenmodes following from the wave equation of the layer. Then the boundary conditions at interfaces along with a set of four field amplitudes completely determine ML electric and magnetic field distributions. Alternatively, two orthogonally polarized incident wave amplitudes in each of the isotropic half spaces may be specified. The approach is more general than those published so far. Assuming minimum previous experience in the ML optics the case of polar magnetization is treated in detail to provide a simple way to the solution of the problems most often encountered in practice.