Large positive and negative Goos-Hanchen shifts from a weakly absorbing left-handed slab

We theoretically show that the Goos-Hanchen (GH) shifts [F. Goos and H. Hanchen, Ann. Phys. 1, 333 (1947)] of the TE- and TM-polarized beams reflected from a slab of the weakly absorbing left-handed material can be large positive near the resonant transmission if the absorption of the slab is sufficiently weak. The GH shift of the TM-polarized reflected beam can be large negative or positive near the Brewster angle. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.