The backscattering cross section of a cone-sphere

The metallic cone-sphere is the prototype for many low cross-sectional shapes, and in recent years it has been receiving an increasing amount of attention. In spite of the simplicity of its mathematical form, it is still a shape for which no exact solution of the boundary-value problem is available, and to calculate the cross section we must rely on approximate methods with such refinements and extensions as experimental data may demand. We here present some new data for both the backscattered and the surface fields at nose-on incidence and deduce therefrom a modification to the accepted theory sufficient to explain the results.