SCATTERING OF SURFACE-PLASMON POLARITONS BY A CIRCULARLY SYMMETRICAL SURFACE DEFECT

By the use of the method of reduced Rayleigh equations, we develop a t heory of the scattering of a surface plasmon polariton from a circular ly symmetric defect on a metal surface. We derive and solve one-dimens ional integral equations for the scattering amplitudes corresponding t o different rotational numbers m. We calculate the differential cross sections for scattering into the vacuum and into other surface waves, and the field intensity near the surface. The results show agreement w ith recent experimental data. We also consider resonant scattering due to surface shape resonances.