Relativistic Aspects of Plane Wave Scattering by a Perfectly Conducting Half-Plane With Uniform Velocity Along an Arbitrary Direction

Abstract

The scattering of time-harmonic plane waves by a perfectly electrically conducting (PEC) half-plane (H-P) in relativistic uniform motion is discussed. The problem is formulated using the special theory of relativity by means of the Lorentz transformation applied to the classic Sommerfeld solution. Exact fields are obtained for the 3-D vector problem of scattering of an obliquely incident and arbitrarily polarized plane wave by a PEC H-P in relativistic translational motion. The total fields are then presented as the relativistic analog of their motionless counterparts and an association with the uniform asymptotic theory of diffraction framework is inferred. In addition to recovering known features such as the relativistic Doppler effect and shadow boundary shifts, it is herein depicted a polarization coupling effect due to motion that can give rise to a 3-D scattered field with all components present even for a linearly polarized incident wave. Validating results and illustrative examples are also presented.