REDUCING THE BERREMAN 4X4 PROPAGATION MATRIX-METHOD FOR LAYERED INHOMOGENEOUS ANISOTROPIC MEDIA TO THE ABELES 2X2 MATRIX-METHOD FOR ISOTROPIC MEDIA

With the use of the exact expression for the local propagation matrix that was obtained by Wohler et al. [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5, 1554 (1988)], we show explicitly that the Berreman 4 x 4 propagation matrix method for layered inhomogeneous anisotropic media reduces to the Abeles 2 x 2 propagation matrix method for layered inhomogeneous isotropic media when the anisotropic medium becomes isotropic.