TABLE OF CONTENTS A planar stratified layer between two bulk media is a region, in which the dielectric constant and possibly also the magnetic permeability depend only on the coordinate normal to the layer, which is in this book always the z-coordinate. Most generally the system is characterized by the frequency dependent dielectric constants, ? ( z, ?) and ? z( z, ?), and magnetic permeabilities, ? ( z, ?) and ? z( z, ?), parallel and orthogonal to the layer, respectively. Away from the layer the dielectric constants and magnetic permeabilities approach their direction independent bulk values, ? + and ? + for z ? ? and ? ? and ? ? for z ? ? ?. In most of the literature on stratified media one considers non-magnetic media, ? ( z, ?) = ? z( z, ?) = 1. Furthermore one usually takes a scalar dielectric tensor, i.e. ? ( z, ?) = ? z( z, ?) = ?( z, ?). An extensive discussion of this case is given for instance in the books by Born and Wolf [14] and by Lekner [11]. It is not the aim of this chapter to repeat this work in great detail. It is well understood and it does not need much further discussion. The main purpose of this...
