Wave reflection from a periodically composed half-space

Abstract

The character of wave motions in geometrical settings of a periodic nature and their interplay with primary and secondary waves in the exterior of partly space-filling configurations receive prominence in the theories of x-ray and electron diffraction. It is customary to focus attention on the free or natural wave motions in unbounded media with a periodic bias prior to estabishing the self-consistent solution for specific excitations in composite media. An integrated, rather than sequential, approach to problems in the latter category is recommended and detailed here in connection with the incidence of plane waves on a half-space with periodic composition normal to its boundary; and is shown, in particular, to furnish directly a superior means of calculating the reflection coefficient.