Cecil Moore wrote:

Back to the present thread. I infer that you believe
that Hecht's total irradiance equations are in error?
Before you reply, let me remind you that Dr. Best was
the first one, to the best of my knowledge, to publish
the irradiance equations in an amateur radio
publication, QEX.

In the following fixed font diagram, IR is the Index
of Refraction.

air | 1/4WL thin-film | Glass
1W Laser---IR=1.0---|----IR=1.222-----|--IR=1.493---...
Ifor=1W | Ifor=1.0101W | Ifor=1W
Iref=0.01W | Iref=0.0101W | Iref=0

Note that I is "irradiance", not current.

Given: The irradiance reflection coefficient is 0.01
at both interfaces. The irradiance transmission coefficient
is 0.99 at both interfaces. Please describe your theory of
the wave cancellation process occurring at the air to thin-
film interface without using the superposition and interference
principles that I have been using to which you object.

Cecil,

I don't have a copy of Hecht. Like Jim, I use Born and Wolf as a
"textbook" reference and several other books for practical optical
design reference.

Does Hecht really say that more power goes into the glass than enters
the 1/4WL film? Can we somehow bottle this free energy and save the world?

By the way, those irradiance equations go back a couple hundred years.
It seems unlikely that Dr. Best was the first to publish them, even
considering only amateur-oriented publications.

73,
W4SZ
Gene