New Wave-Objects for Efficient Treatment of Complex Multi-Reflector Systems

This paper discusses a novel method for computing the field radiated by an aperture via expansion in new analytical wave-objects. The expansion is done in two steps. Starting from the spectral domain radiation integral, the electric field Fourier spectrum at the aperture is first expressed in terms of complex exponentials obtained by the generalized pencil-of-function (GPOF) method. The radiation integral for each term then assumes a form that can be evaluated in closed form in the second step. The new objects rigorously respect the wave equation and generalize complex sources to azimuthal variation. The paper presents the general theory and discusses some aspects of the GPOF expansion.