Electromagnetic Waves Determined by the Tangential Electric Field of Incident Plane Wave at a Charged and Lossy Planar Interface

Abstract

Based on the normal and tangential decomposition of both the wave vectors and the electric fields of plane electromagnetic waves at a charged and lossy planar interface, all of the incident, reflected, and refracted plane waves are found to be only determined by the tangential electric field of the incident plane wave. The complex wave vectors are easily calculated from the tangential wave vector of the incident plane wave based on the complex angles given by the complex Snell's law. The electric field magnitudes of the incident, reflected and refracted waves are directly derived from the tangential electric field magnitude of the incident plane based on the relationship of the two different types of decomposition and the continuous boundary condition of tangential electric fields. The time-averaged Poynting vectors and the surface Joule heat density at the interface are also given to demonstrate the validity of the formulation by the energy balance condition together with a specific example. This work directly proves the uniqueness theorem of time-varying electromagnetic fields and opens a new and fast route for calculating the reflected and transmitted waves at a charged and lossy planar interface without the need to perform the polarization decomposition of the incident plane wave.