Optical quantities of multilayer systems with correlated randomly rough boundaries

Abstract In this paper formulae expressing the coherent reflectance, coherent transmittance and scattering losses of multilayer systems with correlated randomly rough boundaries derived within a certain approximation are presented. The theoretical approach employed for deriving these formulae is based on the scalar theory of diffraction of light. A brief numerical analysis of the formulae mentioned is performed for chosen rough multilayer systems. These formulae are also utilized for interpreting experimental data of samples of two chosen multilayers with rough boundaries. Moreover, in this paper formulae enabling us to estimate the errors in the optical quantities calculated using the approximate formulae are also presented.