Evanescent waves

Evanescent" means "tending to vanish", which is appropriate because

the intensity of evanescent waves decays exponentially (rather than
sinusoidally) with distance from the interface at which they are formed.
Evanescent waves are formed when sinusoidal waves are (internally)
reflected off an interface at an angle greater than the critical angle so
that total internal reflection occurs.
The colors in the image at right indicate the instantaneous electric field
magnitude of the incident light. In this view, the plane of the page is the
plane of incidence (contains the wave vector ki and the normal to the
interface, the latter indicated by the black line). Surfaces on which the
electric field magnitude is uniform are planes normal to the wave
vector ki. Hence the incident light is a linearly polarized plane wave
(LPPW). As time progresses, these planes move at the speed of light in
a direction given by the wave vector ki. A LPPW is the type of wave
produced by a laser.
The next image at right shows the reflected wave, which is also a
LPPW. The direction of the wave vector kr is determined such that the
angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
The angle of incidence qi and the angle of
refraction qr are related by Snell's law:

where n1 and n2 are indexes of refraction on either side of the interface.

When n1 < n2 Snell’s law predicts that the refracted wave vector will be
bent toward to the normal. This is called an external reflection because
it often occurs when the incident light strikes the outside surface of a
solid object. External reflections of LPPW's always produce a refracted
wave which is also a LPPW.