Electromagnetic scattering by a perfectly conducting elliptic disk

Abstract

Electromagnetic scattering from a perfectly conducting elliptic disk is treated by means of the null-field approach. The disk is obtained as the zero-thickness limit of an ellipsoid. It is shown that in this limit all relevant matrix elements have a well-defined limit. Owing to the lack of axial symmetry, an integral that can not be solved analytically remains in the azimuthal angle. In an appendix, an efficient algorithm to solve these integrals by means of recurrence relations is presented. The formalism is attractive for numerical computations, and stable results for very eccentric disks have been obtained. The first few terms in the low-frequency expansion of the total cross section are derived. Numerical computations of the scattering amplitude and the total cross section illustrate the theoretical results. In a final appendix, the thin wire limit of the elliptic disk is discussed, and a comparison with corresponding results of a prolate spheroid is presented.