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Stable Calculation of Optical Properties of Large Non-Periodic Dissipative Multilayered Systems

The calculation of the transfer matrix for a large non-periodic multilayered system may become unstable in the presence of absorption. We discuss the origin of this instability and we explore two methods to overcome it: the use of a total matrix to solve for all the fields at all the interfaces simultaneously and an expansion in the Bloch-like modes of a periodic artificially repeated system. We apply both methods to obtain the reflectance spectra of multilayered chirped structures composed of nanostructured porous silicon (PS). Both methods yield reliable and numerically stable results. The former allows an analysis of the field within all layers while the latter is much more efficient computationally, allowing the design of novel structures and the optimization of their parameters. We compare numerical and experimental results across a wide spectral range from the infrared to the ultraviolet.