A comparison of exact TM plane wave diffraction by coated wedges and impedance wedges

The purpose of this work is to numerically investigate the accuracy of the standard impedance boundary condition (SIBC) approximation for edge diffraction. To this end, we compare the scattering by coated wedges and SIBC wedges for which the diffracted field from a single edge can be observed without interference from direct fields or reflected fields. Results have been obtained in the case of illumination by a transverse magnetic (TM) uniform plane wave. The analysis of the coated wedge is based on an integral equation formulation combined with a hybrid technique, while the analysis of the SIBC wedge is based on Maliuzhinets´ solution. Comparisons have been carried out for a series of configurations including lossy coatings as well as lossless coatings permitting unattenuated propagation of surface waves. The results show that the presence of an edge in a coated structure does not necessarily make the SIBC approximation inapplicable.