Intensities from the Michelson Beamsplitter

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(A laser monochromatic laser is shone in from the left, that's [tex]E_{in}[/tex].)

[PLAIN]http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/6184/beamsplitter.png

In the lecture notes, it says that:

[tex]E_{out1}=rE_2+tE_1[/tex], where [tex]E_1=-rE_{in}e^{i\phi}[/tex] and [tex]E_2=tE_{in}e^{i\phi}[/tex]

I don't really understand the signs ([tex]+/-[/tex]) here.

According to the Fresnel equations, light reflecting off a material with a higher refractive index will experience a 180 degree phase shift, hence the minus sign in the [tex]E_1[/tex] equation. But then why isn't there also a minus sign here: [tex]E_{out1}=(-)rE_2+tE_1[/tex], is [tex]E_2[/tex] not also reflecting off a material with higher refractive index?

Thanks
 
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This is an asymmetric beamsplitter as it necessarily is, with an AR (anti-reflection) coating on one of the faces. If ## E_{out1} ## is down below, and ## E_2 ## coming from the right, with ## E_1 ## coming from above, they have the uncoated surface of the beamsplitter as being the upper surface, so that the reflection of ## E_{inc} ## is off the higher index as it goes to the upper mirror and becomes ## E_1 ## and gets a ## \pi ## phase change=-1 factor , and the ## E_2 ## coming from the right mirror reflects off the inside of the beam splitter, so there is no ## \pi ## phase change. It should be noted their ## t ## is actually a composite Fresnel coefficient that results from crossing both the surface with the AR coating and the surface that has no AR coating. See also: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/if-maxwells-equations-are-linear.969743/#post-6159689