APPLICATION OF THE MUTUAL-INTERACTION METHOD TO A CLASS OF 2-SCATTERER SYSTEMS .2. SCATTERER NEAR AN INTERFACE

This paper applies the methodology developed in Part I to the problem of a separable scatterer near a dielectric (penetrable) or perfectly c onducting (impenetrable) interface. For a penetrable interface, the sc atterer may be on either side of the interface (exposed or embedded). As in Part I, the scatterer may also be an active element. Thus, our s olutions extend the classic treatments of dipoles radiating near a pla nar dielectric interface. The mutual-interaction method accommodates a uniform half-space as an equivalent scattering plate of zero thicknes s that preserves amplitudes and phases of the transmitted and reflecte d waves. Because this scattering function necessarily includes a Dirac delta function, exact analytic solutions are possible for the class o f separable scatterers, which include isotropic scatterers and electri c or magnetic dipoles. The results can be interpreted within the conte xt of image theory. Integrals similar to those derived by Sommerfeld m ust be evaluated to calculate the spatial fields for dielectric media; however, for highly conducting media good approximations are readily obtained.