Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy (TIRFM) is an elegant optical technique that provides for the excitation of fluorophores in an extremely thin axial region ("optical section"). The method is based on the principle that when excitation light is totally internally reflected in a transparent solid (e.g., coverglass) at its interface with liquid, an electromagnetic field, ca...

In the present paper, we have presented a Maxwellian boundary-type solution for total internal reflection with unbounded incident waves at an interface between two nonabsorbing media, in which the instantaneous, time varying, and time averaged radiant fluxes have been determined at all points in the two media. Solutions for the s and p polarizations were found for which the instantaneous tangen...