Mathematical Modeling in Diffraction Theory: Based on A Priori Information on the Analytical Properties of the Solution

Mathematical Modeling in Diffraction Theory

Based on A Priori Information on the Analytic Properties of the Solution

First Edition

Alexander G. Kyurkchan

Nadezhda I. Smirnova

Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, Moscow, Russia

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter 1: Analytic Properties of Wave Fields

Abstract

1.1 Derivation of Basic Analytic Representations of Wave Fields

1.2 Analytic Properties of the Wave Field Pattern and the Domains of Existence of Analytic Representations

Chapter 2: Methods of Auxiliary Currents and Method of Discrete Sources

Abstract

2.1 Existence and Uniqueness Theorems

2.2 Solution of the MAC Integral Equation and the MDS

2.3 Rigorous Solution of the Diffraction Problem by MAC [9, 16]

2.4 Modified MDS

Chapter 3: Null Field and T-Matrix Methods

Abstract

3.1 NFM for Scalar Diffraction Problems

3.2 NFM for Vector Diffraction Problems

3.3 Results of Numerical Studies

3.4 T-Matrix Method

Chapter 4: Method of Continued Boundary Conditions

Abstract

4.1 Method of Continued Boundary Conditions for Scalar Diffraction Problems

4.2 Method of Continued Boundary Conditions for Vector Problems of Diffraction

4.3 Results of Numerical Investigations

4.4 Modified Method of Continued Boundary Conditions

Chapter 5: Pattern Equation Method

Abstract

5.1 Solution of Two-Dimensional Problem of Diffraction at a Compact Scatterer Using the Pattern Equation Method

5.2 Wave Diffraction at a Group of Bodies

5.3 Wave Diffraction at Periodic Gratings

5.4 Solution of the Three-Dimensional Acoustic Problem of Diffraction at a Compact Scatterer

5.5 Plane Wave Scattering at a Periodic Interface Between Media

5.6 Calculation of the Reflection and Transmission Coefficients in a Plane Dielectric Waveguide with Foreign Objects Near It

References

Index

Copyright

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Introduction

In many fields of contemporary science, from astrophysics to biology, scientists are required to find effective solutions for wave diffraction and scattering problems. This is, in particular, confirmed by the programs of regular conferences such as Days on Diffraction, Mathematical Methods in Electromagnetic Theory, Electromagnetic and Light Scattering, PIERS, etc.

The use of a priori information permits a significant increase in the efficiency of algorithms for solving such problems, and in several cases, the problem can principally only be solved by using such information. Here, we consider several examples to illustrate this.

1. Diffraction at thin screens. In problems of wave diffraction at thin screens, there is a complexity related to the fact that the current I(x) on the screen has a singularity near the screen edge. It follows from the Meixner condition [, where ρ is the distance to the screen edge. Thus, for example, when solving the problem of diffraction at an infinitely thin band of width 2a (in the case of E-polarization), it is expedient to represent the desired current as

where J(x) is now a smooth function.

If the boundary-value problem reduces to an integral equation, then the use of such a representation allows one to simplify the corresponding algorithm to solving this equation.

2. Diffraction at a periodic grating. We now consider the problem of diffraction of a plane wave at a periodic grating consisting of N elements. If there are infinitely many elements, then the problem reduces to a single period of the grating. If N is not large, then it is necessary to solve the problem of diffraction at a group of bodies. The situation is most difficult when N is finite but rather large. In this case, it is very difficult to solve the problem of diffraction at a group of N bodies because of the extremely large volume of calculations. Here it is appropriate to use a priori central elements of the grating is approximately the same as the distribution on an infinite periodic grating [edge elements and one central element, which already allows the problem to be solved numerically.

3. Wave scattering at a body whose dimensions are much more than the wavelength. In this case, the use of the standard methods, for example, using integral equations, is not efficient because algebraization results in a system of large-sized algebraic equations. Here, it is expedient to use the hybrid method, where the current on a greater part of the scatterer is assumed to be equal to the current of geometric optics, i.e., the unknown current is equal to the current on the corresponding tangent plane on the illuminated part of the scatterer, and to zero on the shaded part [3]. The current remains unknown only near the light-shadow boundary, which permits a significant decrease in the dimensions of the corresponding algebraic system.

In the second and third examples, we discuss the use of a priori (here ω is the cyclic frequency of oscillations) propagating in a homogeneous isotropic medium with relative dielectric permittivity ɛ and relative magnetic permeability μ. The mathematical model of such a problem is the system of Maxwell equations for the vectors of electromagnetic field strength with boundary conditions or, in the scalar approximation, the external boundary-value problem for the Helmholtz equation [1,4,5]. As is known in this case (e.g., see [5,6]), the solutions of these equations are real analytic functions that we call wave fields. The direct diffraction problem consists of determining the secondary wave field arising when the known primary field meets a certain obstacle, i.e., a scatterer. Throughout the monograph, we deal only with external problems of diffraction. The solutions of such problems are defined as everywhere outside the scatterer, i.e., outside a certain domain D with boundary S. Outside D, the wave fields vanish at infinity according to the Sommerfeld radiation condition [1,5]. This means that the wave field must have singularities in the domain D (or on its boundary), because otherwise (as will be shown below) the field would be zero.

We consider another example that illustrates the importance of such information.

at a compact scatterer bound by the surface Sscattered at the body [4,5]

   (1)

A similar representation in the form of a series in spherical harmonics also holds in the case of the vector [in the boundary condition, we can determine the coefficients anm converges to the scatterer boundary S. This assumption is known in the literature as the Rayleigh hypothesis [8,9] and the bodies satisfying this hypothesis are called Rayleigh bodies. Thus, only the bodies that are completely contained inside this sphere S are Rayleigh bodies. To know whether the body is Rayleigh or not is obviously of principal importance when solving the diffraction problem by the method described above. The fact that this information can be obtained a priori is also important [9,10].

? We consider a simple example. Assume that a source of light is located in front of a plane mirror S. When looking at a mirror, we see the source of light at a point behind the mirror that is symmetric with respect to S (see Fig. 1). We see this imaginary source (image) as the straight continuation of the rays reflected from the mirror. The source image is precisely the result of analytic continuation of the field reflected from the mirror into the region behind the mirror.

Figure 1 Image in a flat mirror.

We perceive the obtained image as an additional source of light on the other side of the mirror as if we can see though the mirror. Moreover, if we begin to move the source of light away from the mirror, then its image behind the mirror also moves symmetrically as far as possible.

The situation is quite different in the case of reflection from a nonplane surface. We now imagine that we begin to bend a plane mirror by lifting its edges. The space behind the mirror begins to contract forming a fold. A part of the image or even the entire image of the object may then disappear (this effect is familiar to everybody who has looked at their image in halls of mirrors, recall the laughter rooms). This effect arises due to formation of folds in the hypothetical media behind the mirror, i.e., of regions containing two (or even more) images simultaneously. In this case, the disappearing part of the image is hidden in the fold. A more detailed qualitative discussion of this effect is available (see [10]).

In the case of problems of diffraction at compact obstacles, the wave field (scattered at an obstacle) must also have singularities. Obviously, these singularities must lie outside the domain, where we seek the diffraction field (in the so-called nonphysical region). Thus, we speak of singularities of the analytic continuation of the wave field beyond the original domain of its definition.

In Chapter 1, we discus several methods required to localize the singularities of the analytic continuation of wave fields in detail. In the subsequent chapters, we describe the methods for solving problems of the diffraction theory that are significantly based on the information about the singularities of the analytic continuation of the wave field. Let us briefly list the required methods.

One of the most widely used methods for solving problems of diffraction is the reduction of the corresponding boundary-value problem to integral equations [5,11,12]. The popularity of approaches based on the techniques of (current) integral equations can, in particular, be explained by the combination of their universality and high computing speed of such methods. However, the kernels of these integral equations are singular functions (i.e., they have singularities at the points of coincidence of the values of their arguments). This fact leads to certain technical difficulties in numerical computations.

Different modifications of integral equation methods based on the idea of separating the surfaces, namely, the surface where the observation point is chosen and the surface that is the current support, are being used more frequently. Such a separation of surfaces allows one to eliminate the singularity in the kernel of the integral equation without any additional computations and thus to simplify the calculations and reduce their volume. This idea underlies the continued boundary condition method (CBCM) [13,14], the method of auxiliary currents (MAC) [15,16] and its special case, the method of discrete (auxiliary) sources (MDS) [17,18], the null field method (NFM) [5,19] and its popular implementation, the T-matrix method (TMM) [19,20]. Because the terminology is rather inaccurate, which we discuss later, CBCM is sometimes confused with NFM, while TMM and NFM are considered as the same methods.

In CBCM, the surface where we choose an observation point, which we denote by Sδ, lies outside the scatterer at a certain sufficiently small distance δ from its boundary S, which is the carrier of the (auxiliary) current and is the domain of integration. Since the wave field is analytic, the boundary condition is approximately satisfied on the surface Sδ and, as a result, the diffraction problem is solved in an approximate setting. The main advantages of CBCM are its universality and simplicity [14,21]. The main drawback of CBCM is a lower rate of convergence compared, for example, with MAC. MAC and NFM (as was shown later [22,23]) can be used only in the case of scatterers with an analytic boundary that is a closed surface. However, if these methods are applicable, they, in contrast to CBCM, permit solving the diffraction problem in the exact statement and ensure a very high rate of convergence of numerical algorithms used to solve the corresponding integral equations.

In MAC, the surface Σ, i.e., the carrier of the auxiliary current, is located inside the scatterer surface S, where the boundary condition is satisfied. According to the assumptions of the existence theorem (see below), the surface Σ must surround the set Ā of singularities of the analytic continuation of the scattered field [9,10,16]. In NFM, the carrier of the sought current is the scatterer surface and the observation point lies on a certain surface Σ inside the scatterer, where the null field condition is satisfied. As was shown in the late 2000s [22,23], the interior of the surface Σ in NFM must also contain the set Ā.

MDS and TMM were the first methods that appeared almost simultaneously [17,19]. MDS is a special case of MAC, where the continuous distribution of an auxiliary current is replaced by a linear combination of discrete sources. Later, because there were no criteria for optimal choice of the surface (the source support), some other more difficult implementations of MDS were developed, for example, the methods based on the use of multipoles and complex sources [24,25]. In the literature, one can find various methods for constructing the surface Σ, and the methods, where Σ is a surface similar to or equidistant from the scatter surface S, are used most widely. In 2001, it was shown that the construction of the surface Σ in MDS by using the techniques of analytic deformation of the surface S ensures that the assumptions of the existence theorem are satisfied for the corresponding integral equation and the rate of convergence of the computational algorithm is maximally high [26]. Such a version of the method, where the surface Σ is constructed by analytic deformation of the surface S, was called a modified method of discrete sources (MMDS). Evidently, the results obtained in that paper also hold for MAC.

The importance of a priori analytic information became apparent in the early 2000s and, as an analysis of the literature shows, such information is actively used by only a narrow group of researchers. This can be explained by the fact that there are no monographs specifically on this subject. At present, there is only one monograph (in Russian) [9], where Chapter 2 presents the basic ideas of how the information about the analytic properties of wave fields can be used to solve the diffraction problems, and the collective monograph [25], where Chapter 5 mainly deals with only one aspect of this usage. In the two monographs devoted to the methods of mathematical modeling in the theory of diffraction, there is little focus on the problems of application of a priori information about the analytic properties of the solution [27,28].

References

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