Propagation of Gaussian beam through a uniaxial anisotropic slab

•Gaussian beam is expanded in terms of the rectangular vector wave functions.•Propagation of Gaussian beam through a uniaxial anisotropic slab is studied.•Normalized field intensity distributions are provided.

An exact analytical solution to the reflection and transmission of an incident Gaussian beam by a uniaxial anisotropic slab is obtained in terms of the rectangular vector wave function expansion form. In the uniaxial anisotropic slab, the optical axis is parallel to the interface. For a localized beam model, numerical results of the normalized field intensity distributions are presented, and the propagation characteristics are analyzed concisely.