TRANSIENT SCATTERING FROM DIELECTRIC SLABS--SOLUTION FORMS AND PARAMETRIC INVERSES.

Abstract

In this research, we are concerned with obtaining characteristics of a scattering object from transient input-output data. The input is a transient pulse with broad bandwidth. The output is the field scattered by the object. Specifically, we consider two classical structures: First a single lossless dielectric slab backed by a perfect conductor; second, a double-layer lossless dielectric slab backed by a perfect conductor. We begin with two generic solution forms: First, the ray-optic form, which emphasizes local object features; second, the singularity expansion method (SEM) form, which emphasizes object resonances. Using these two forms, we generate a variety of solutions for each structure. For the single slab, we obtain five solution forms for the transient response as follows: The ray-optic, the SEM, two hybrids, and one closed. We find that the input signal plays an important role in the results. We believe the specific hybrid solutions for the slab are new. For the double slab, we find four solution forms as follows: Two ray-optic and two quasi-hybrid. The quasi-hybrid solutions involve a ray-optic expansion in one slab and SEM in the other. We believe the quasi-hybrid forms are new and lead to some interesting comparisons with work by other researchers. As a result of critical study of the various solution types, we reach some conclusions concerning determination of parameters that classify an object (the parametric inverse problem). We find that a given SEM pole set does not always correspond to a unique object. In addition, we show that it is often not possible to relate SEM poles to object size or constitution. Because of these facts, it is necessary to add knowledge of the specific form factor of the object to permit classification. We include some conclusions concerning object identification and point out some areas for future research.