We address the problem of optimally choosing the conductivity (sigma) profi
le of a perfectly-matched-layer absorbing boundary condition (PML ABC) with
prescribed number of layers so as to minimize reflections for a wide range
of incidence angles and for a narrow (CW) or broad frequency-band. A new o
ne-dimensional (1-D), frequency-domain description of 2-D PML performance i
s developed, validated and used in PML-sigma profile optimization. An exhau
stive search for PML-sigma profiles that minimize reflections over a prescr
ibed wide angle-range is carried out. Our procedure yields PML-sigma profil
es with better performance than previously reported values, for given numbe
r of layers.