Currents induced in a wire cross by a plane wave incident at an angle

The currents induced in a thin-wire cross with equal mutually perpendicular arms by an incident plane electromagnetic wave are determined when the normal to the wave front is perpendicular to the horizontal wire and is at an angle theta with respect to the vertical wire; the direction of the electric vector in the wave front is arbitrary. The analysis is formulated in general terms but explicit formulas are obtained only for the zero-order currents which are generally adequate to determine the scattered field of very thin wires. The relatively simple formulas consist of even and odd parts for both the vertical and horizontal wires; they include components due to mutual coupling as well as those excited directly by the incident field.