An imperfectly conducting surface may support surface waves provided appropriate impedance boundary conditions (Leontovich conditions) are satisfied. Electromagnetic surface waves propagate along an impedance surface and interact with its singular points such as edges or conical vertices giving rise to the reflection and transmission of such surface waves as well as to those diffracted into the space surrounding the canonical body. In this work, we discuss a mathematical approach describing some physical processes dealing with the diffraction of surface waves by canonical singularities like wedges and cones. We develop a mathematically justified theory of such processes with the attention centred on diffraction of a skew incident surface wave at the edge of an impedance wedge. Questions of excitation of the electromagnetic surface waves by a Hertzian dipole are also addressed as well as the Geometrical Optics laws of reflection and transmission of a surface wave across the edge of an impedance wedge.

Chapter Contents:

• 2.1 Introduction and survey of some known results
• 2.1.1 Electromagnetic surface waves on impedance surfaces
• 2.1.1.1 Electromagnetic surface waves supported by planar impedance surfaces
• 2.1.1.2 Electromagnetic surface waves on a curved surface with varying surface impedance in an inhomogeneous medium
• 2.1.2 Electromagnetic surface waves on a right circular conical surface
• 2.2 Excitation of an electromagnetic surface wave by a dipole located near a plane impedance surface
• 2.3 Scattering of a skew incident surface wave by the edge on an impedance wedge
• 2.3.1 Integral equations for the spectra
• 2.3.2 Far-field expansion
• 2.3.3 Reflection and refraction of an incident surface wave at the edge of an impedance wedge
• 2.3.4 Beyond the critical angle of edge diffraction
• 2.4 Conclusion
• Appendix A
• A.1 Brewster angles
• Acknowledgement
• References

Inspec keywords: electromagnetic wave scattering; surface electromagnetic waves; integral equations; electromagnetic wave propagation; geometrical optics; electromagnetic wave diffraction

Other keywords: electromagnetic surface waves; Hertzian dipole; imperfectly conducting surface; geometrical optics laws; skew incident surface wave diffraction; conical vertices; impedance surface; impedance boundary conditions; surface wave transmission; surface wave reflection; canonical singularities; impedance wedge

Subjects: Electromagnetic wave propagation; Electromagnetic waves: theory; Function theory, analysis; Numerical approximation and analysis; Geometrical optics