Generalized 4x4 matrix algorithm for light propagation in anisotropic stratified media (Matlab files)

The attached Matlab functions allow to calculate reflection and transmission coefficients for any number of arbitrarily anisotropic or isotropc, absorbing and non-absorbing multilayer systems, as well as the full electric field distribution in the multilayer stack. An error in the transfer matrix and the electric field distribution for explicit birefringence in the original publication (Passler and Paarmann, JOSA B 34, 2128 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.34.002128) and previous versions of this submission is resolved here, and the respective Erratum (https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.36.003246).

This new version, apart from now correctly calculating the transfer matrix and electric fields distributions for birefringent films, is now also modularized to allow easier handling of materials. Additionally, the input fields are now defined by their inplane momenta rather than the incidence angle, to allow for easier calculations using evanescent excitation. A new test script is provided demonstrating the usage of these new features.

An implementation of the same formalism in Python was provided by M. Jeannin: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3417751