Goos-Hanchen and Imbert-Fedorov shifts for Hermite-Gauss beams

We study the lateral Goos-Hanchen and the transverse Imbert-Fedorov shift produced during the reflection of Hermite-Gauss beams H-m0 or H-0m at a plane interface. The vector angular spectrum method for a light beam in terms of a two-form angular spectrum consisting of the two orthogonal polarized components was used. We have carried out a detailed numerical calculation of these shifts at different angles of incidence, over the whole range of incidence without making the usual approximations. The shift variation as a function of refractive index and order of the Hermite-Gauss beam is studied. We also compare the shift variations with the orientation of the lobes of the Hermite-Gauss beam. We observed that the shifts are nearly equal for the two cases H-m0 (lobe oriented in the plane of incidence) and H-0m (lobe oriented perpendicular to plane of incidence). These are the first quantitative estimates of the shifts for Hermite-Gauss beams as per our knowledge and are relevant for all cases of slab geometry. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America