Disk scattering at edge-on incidence

As part of a general study of the backscattering from thin plates illuminated by a plane wave at glancing incidence, measurements have been made of the surface and far fields of circular disks. Some results of the surface field probing are presented and interpreted in terms of optics and creeping wave components analogous to those appropriate to the surface of a cylinder. Analytic forms for the components are then determined, and an expression for the backscattered field deduced therefrom. The result is compared with measured far-field data for electrically thin disks, and the effects of increasing the electrical thickness, either uniformly or nonuniformly, are also discussed.