CURRENT ON A LONG, THIN WIRE IN A CHIRAL MEDIUM

The propagation of current on a thin, straight wire in an infinite chi ral medium is examined by solution of the integral equation for an inf inite wire and also from the moment-method solution for a long wire of finite length. The current on the infinite wire is shown to consist o f three components: a discrete mode that decays exponentially and two continuous-spectrum components from branch cuts from the two chiral wa venumbers. The integral equation for a finite wire i.n the chiral medi um is solved by the method of moments using a modified version of the Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC). The moment-method solution is s hown to be in close agreement with the modal solution for the infinite wire, providing validation for the numerical treatment.