The interference enhancement of light polarization conversion from structures with a quantum well

Abstract

The optical activity of crystals leads to the occurrence of ellipticity at the reflection of light which is linearly polarized in the interface plane or normally to it. The effect experimentally discovered in the investigated structures with quantum wells is due to a spin-orbit interaction and birefringence. The qualitative dependence of the effect on the change in the orientation of the linear polarization of the incident light has been revealed. A sharp increase in the degree of the polarization conversion in a narrow range of incidence angles for light polarized in the incidence plane has been detected. The latter is due to the influence of the interference of the reflected wave on the structure thickness.