A spectral domain approach to the numerical solution of electromagnetic scattering problems

In this paper we introduce a new technique, henceforth referred to as the 'Spectral Domain Approach,' for solving a class of electromagnetic scattering problems. The principal feature of the method is that the formulation of the problem is carried out in the Fourier transform, rather than in the spatial domain. Several advantages of the spectral domain approach over the conventional integral equation methods are pointed out. It is shown by means of examples that include the thin strip and the half-plane problems, that the method is especially useful for handling a class of electrically large scatterers. It is well known that the large body problem cannot be dealt with using conventional integral equation formulation in the space domain, due to limitations imposed by computer storage and cost of matrix inversion.-