STUDY OF COHERENT SCATTERING FROM ONE-DIMENSIONAL ROUGH SURFACES WITHA MEAN-FIELD THEORY

A model is developed that calculates the mean field and the specular s cattering from rough dielectric surfaces. The roughness is regarded as random fluctuations of the permittivity whose averaged value depends on z. A Dyson equation (in its volume formulation) is solved within th e Bourret approximation to yield the mean field and the coherent refle ction and transmission. Comparisons of the latter three items with the results of numerical simulations are presented in the case of one-dim ensional rough surfaces illuminated by an s-polarized plane wave. Good agreement is obtained for rms heights as great as lambda/2 and a wide range of correlation lengths (from lambda/5 to 2/lambda) as long as t he dieletric contrast remains small (<4). (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.