Full-wave analysis of a class of ray-chaotic cylindrical geometries

In certain deterministic electromagnetic (EM) propagation and scattering environments, ray trajectories may become exponentially sensitive to small changes in initial conditions, and therefore render ray field dynamics unreliable after many interactions within such environments. The rigorous analytic framework for studying this pathological behavior is provided by chaos theory, and the corresponding scenarios are typically referred to as "ray chaos". We have recently initiated a systematic analysis aimed at gaining deeper insights into the wave-physical mechanisms that govern the tendency toward, and the onset of, ray-chaotic footprints in ray-chaotically inclined EM propagation and scattering environments. We have explored a novel two-dimensional (2D) ray-chaotic wave scattering configuration consisting of a planar dielectric layer, with exponentially tapered refractive index profile, backed by a smooth, perfectly-electrically-conducting (PEC), periodically undulating surface. This configuration is amenable to an explicit full-wave analysis. We discuss a possible extension of the planar configuration to the considerably more complicated cylindrical geometry.