Diffraction of the Electromagnetic Waves in Layered Inhomogeneous Media

Abstract

The expressions for diffracted fields in the geometric optical shadow region on the earth surface and near the boundaries where the medium changes continuously are derived in higher degree of approximation than those of the ray approximation in previous papers. The diffracted field strengths are numerically given as functions of the horizontal distance between the observing point and the dipole source with the primary fields and the once reflected fields. The intensities of the diffracted field are affected more sensibly by the inhomogeneity than the wave length. The behaviors of the diffracted fields at the continuous boundaries are similar to those at the discontinuous boundary, which have never been expected in case of the homogeneous medium.