Light scattering by a reentrant fractal surface

Recently, rigorous numerical techniques for treating light scattering problems with one-dimensional rough surfaces have been developed. In their usual formulation, these techniques are based on the solution of two coupled integral equations and are applicable only to surfaces whose profiles can be described by single-valued functions of a coordinate in the mean plane of the surface; In this paper we extend the applicability of the integral equation method to surfaces with multivalued profiles. A procedure for finding a parametric description of a given profile is described, and the scattering equations are established within the framework of this formalism. We then present some results of light scattering from a sequence of one-dimensional flat surfaces with defects in the form of triadic Koch curves. Beyond a certain order of the prefractal, the scattering patterns become stationary (within the numerical accuracy of the method). It can then be argued that the results obtained correspond to a surface with a fractal structure. These constitute, to our knowledge, the first rigorous calculations of light scattering from a reentrant fractal surface. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.