Rigorous accounting diffraction on non-plane gratings irradiated by non-planar waves

Abstract

Abstract The modified boundary integral equation method (MIM) is considered a rigorous theoretical application for the diffraction of cylindrical waves by arbitrary profiled plane gratings, as well as for the diffraction of plane/non-planar waves by concave/convex gratings. This study investigates 2D diffraction problems of the filiform source electromagnetic field scattered by a plane lamellar grating and of plane waves scattered by a similar cylindrical-shaped grating. Unlike the problem of plane wave diffraction by a plane grating, the field of a localised source does not satisfy the quasi-periodicity requirement. Fourier transform is used to reduce the solution of the problem of localised source diffraction by the grating in the whole region to the solution of the problem of diffraction inside one Floquet channel. By considering the periodicity of the geometry structure, the problem of Floquet terms for the image can be formulated so that it enables the application of the MIM developed for plane wave diffraction problems. Accounting of the local structure of an incident field enables both the prediction of the corresponding efficiencies and the specification of the bounds within which the approximation of the incident field with plane waves is correct. For 2D diffraction problems of the high-conductive plane grating irradiated by cylindrical waves and the cylindrical high-conductive grating irradiated by plane waves, decompositions in sets of plane waves/sections are investigated. The application of such decomposition, including the dependence on the number of plane waves/sections and radii of the grating and wave front shape, was demonstrated for lamellar, sinusoidal and saw-tooth grating examples in the 0th and −1st orders as well as in the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarisations. The primary effects of plane wave/section partitions of non-planar wave fronts and curved grating shapes on the exact solutions for 2D and 3D (conical) diffraction problems are discussed.