Angular spectrum representation of the electromagnetic multipole fields, and their reflection at a perfect conductor

Abstract

Angular spectrum representations are derived for electric and magnetic multipole fields of arbitrary order. The result involves generalized spherical harmonics and generalized vector spherical harmonics, and the representations are in the form of integrals over the k ∥-plane. The representations are especially useful for the study of reflection and transmission of multipole radiation by a plane interface. As an example, we have considered the reflection at a perfect conductor. The reflected field of a multipole field could be expressed in the form of an angular spectrum with a very simple relation to the angular spectrum of the source field. The radiation pattern of a multipole near the perfect conductor is obtained with the method of stationary phase. We also introduce a method for determining the mirror image of the source of an arbitrary multipole.