Propagation of Light in Uniform Anisotropic Optical Media

3 Propagation of Light in Uniform Anisotropic Optical Media 

Now we consider the propagation of light in uniform non-magnetic anisotropic media [3, 5]. The speed of light in the medium, and thus the phase vaiiafion in space, depends on the direction of the electric field with respect to the oplieal axis of the medium. The optical properties of 

If the medium is non-absorbing, the dielectric tensor is real and symmetric stj = ej,). The values of the elements depend on the choice of the coordinate axes. Because the tensor is symmetric, it is always possible to choose a frame (the principal frame) with three orthogonal axes such that only the diagonal elements of the dielectric tensor are not zero. If the xyz frame is the principal frame, the dielectric tensor has the form 

In the following discussion in this section, the reference frame used is the principal frame. From the Maxwell Equations we will get 

Note that VvD = V- e = 0 only ensures that D, but not E, is perpendicular to the prop- 

---