Resonant internal-reflection prism spectroscopy using surface, guided, and Fabry-Perot EM waves

The resonant EM modes of three media prism configurations and their use as EM probes of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films are discussed. The excitation of surface EM, guided EM, and Fabry-Perot EM modes using resonant internal reflection (RIR) in the prism is shown to provide a powerful spectroscopic tool for obtaining information about the optical constants of surfaces and thin overlayers. The main advantages of using resonant modes as EM probes are the sizable buildup of EM fields at the surface that occurs at resonance and the fact that the resonant excitation involves the matching of wavevector as well as of frequency.