Plane wave diffraction by a reactive step

Plane wave diffraction by two half-planes joined by a step is studied in the case where each half-plane and the step are characterized by different surface reactances. The diffraction problem is first reduced to a modified Wiener-Hopf equation of the second kind whose solution contains an infinite set of constants satisfying an infinite system of linear algebraic equations. Numerical solution of this system is obtained for various values of the surface reactances and the height of the step wherefrom is studied the effects of these parameters on the diffraction phenomenon. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.