When well-collimated light beams are incident near the critical angle upon a portion σ₁ of a plane interface between two dielectric media, light flux can flow along the interface to a neighboring portion σ₂ and reappear within the denser medium at the critical angle. Qualitative experiments together with a few precise experiments are presented for ascertaining the nature of this power flow along interfaces between homogeneous media. The observations are shown to be consistent with the interpretation that the beam suffers refraction into the less dense medium and that diffraction at area σ₁ deviates considerable power along the grazing direction into the area σ₂. Precision goniometry shows that this power redirected along the grazing direction possesses a sharp maximum for monochromatic beams at an angle of incidence about one second of arc below the critical angle for total internal reflection.

© 1964 Optical Society of America

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription