SIMPLE DIFFRACTIVE THEORY OF ENHANCED BACKSCATTERING

A simple theory of enhanced backscattering from weakly rough dielectri c and metallic surfaces is presented in which constructive interferenc e of time-reversed scattering paths is explicitly displayed. We show t hat, when starting from a perturbative second-order electromagnetic th eory, one may calculate the backscattering intensity distribution from a single analytic formula. Excellent agreement is obtained with publi shed results that were achieved with extensive numerical simulations. In the case of scattering from dielectric surfaces or lossless metalli c surfaces, the angular width of the backscattering peak is determined solely by diffraction.