Vol. 43, Issue 4, pp. 817-829 (2013)

Abstract

Ellipsometry is a powerful tool for studying the optical properties of multilayer structures. All the information extracted from an ellipsometer is found in two angles called the ellipsometric parameters ψ and Δ. The transfer matrix approach is usually used to find the reflectance, transmittance, and ellipsometric parameters of planar multilayer structures. In this work, an equivalent model based on the bi-characteristic-impedance transmission line (BCITL) is employed to model planar multilayer structures. We here apply the BCITL formalism to investigate the reflectance of electromagnetic waves from an isotropic multilayer structure. Moreover, the ellipsometric parameters ψ and Δ for any number of layers are calculated using the BCITL approach. The properties of a Bragg reflector are also presented.