I've done calculations using Fresnel's equations and the transfer method matrix calculation on layers of thin films. These ray-optics calculations make sense to me, but I don't have a good intuition as to when they break down. For example, I've heard that rough surfaces will obviously not transmit light the same way as smooth interfaces. Are there other common real-world phenomena that cause deviations from Fresnel's equations in experimental films?
Are there materials where fresnel's equations simply don't work? Assuming homogenous materials and perfect assembly?
I wrote a program to do these computations and am trying to better understand situations where it wouldn't be applicable.
Dear all, you may include roughness and other irregularities as well by more sophisticated theories such as the Born approximation or the distorted wave Born approximation. There is plenty of literature available on this topic, besides the fundamental work from Parratt (Phys. Rev. 95 (1954) 359), check the papers from e.g. George Palasantzas (PRB 48(1993) 14472, PRB 49(1994) 10544) on self-affine and quasi-fractal surfaces, the work from Vaclav Holys group (PRB 49 (1994) 10668 and others) and especially from de Boer (e.g. PRB 49 (1994) 5817, PRB 51 (1995) 5297, PRB 53 (1996) 6048) - excellent works!
In addition, I can highly recomment the CXRO website for an online-calculator of reflectivity profiles of homogeneous semi infinite samples, layered materials and multilayers (http://henke.lbl.gov/optical_constants/)
Hope this info is useful for all of you, best regards, Dirk
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