Topological Phase Singularities in Light Reflection from Non‐Hermitian Uniaxial Media

Abstract

Perfect light transmission into a dielectric at the Brewster angle is one of the simplest effects of macroscopic electromagnetism. The common wisdom states that absorption in the dielectric violates Brewster angle and leads to a non‐vanishing reflection. Yet, incorporating anisotropy may recover perfect transmission of p‐polarized light into the absorbing medium. Unlike the ordinary “lossless” Brewster angle, perfect transmission in this case is accompanied by phase singularities of the reflection amplitude. In this paper, phase singularities and the associated topological charges are theoretically examined as emerging in the wavelength‐incidence angle space upon perfect transmission into absorbing uniaxial dielectrics. The analytical criterion of perfect light transmission into an anisotropic medium is derived, phase singularities are demontrated in these scenarios, and their dynamics are studied as a function of material parameters. Finally, by lowering the symmetry of the problem, this phenomenon is translated into a different parameter space of wave vector components, and illustrate the feasibility of this phenomenon with available optically anisotropic materials. The results may become valuable for the development of novel analog computing schemes and holography approaches.