Displacement of a totally reflected light beam: filtering of he polarization states and amplification

When a beam of light is totally reflected by a plane interface, a translation depending on its polarization occurs: one shift L x is parallel to the incident plane π and the other L y is perpendicular to π. Both the longitudinal L x and the transverse shifts L y are quantized, each having two eigenvalues which are the principal linear polarization states for L x and the circularly polarized states for L y . Thus the longitudinal and the transverse shifts should not be simultaneously observable. A very strong amplification of these shifts could be obtained by using a multilayered structure. Measurements have been done, giving 50 μm for L x and 30 μm for L y .