Surface Guided Electromagnetic Waves in Cholesteric Films

AbstractSurface guided electromagnetic waves (SGEWT of optical frequency range are theoretically examined for a planar cholesteric (CLC) texture of finite thickness. It is shown that for finite thickness samples the dispersion law and polarization properties of SGEW are changed compared with the case of SGEW in semi-infinite samples. The most important result relates to SGEW attenuation, which is nonzero even in nonabsorbing samples of finite thickness. The investigation of the problem is carried out within the framework of the two-wave dynamical diffraction theory of CLC optics. Some cases of analytical solutions for SGEW are also discussed.