COMPATIBILITY STUDIES. VOLUME V. APPENDIX 4. DIFFRACTION OF A PARABOLIC CAUSTIC BY AN IMPEDANCE PLANE.
Abstract
In many of the propagation problems the incident field into the terrain is of a more complex type than a plane wave. One such complex field is a caustic. A caustic arises when part of the space is illuminated and the remaining part is in a shadow. Specifically it is the locus of the points which mark the illuminated to shadow region boundary. This type of situation occurs in high gain antennas in propagation behind obstacles, etc. The scattering of a caustic by an impedance plane has been examined in this paper. The impedance plane here is an idealized approximation of a slightly conducting plane earth. The scattering integrals of this type of surface have been evaluated and the physical mechanism involved in the launching of surface waves was examined. A new result of this work was the proof, that for certain angles of incidence one obtains maximum launching efficiency of a surface wave. This may have interesting practical implications in certain geometries where caustics, generated behind obstacles, are capable of launching surface waves which may completely change the nature of the propagation mechanism. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0830042
Entities
People
- Shun-jen Houng
Organizations
- Moore School of Electrical Engineering