Scattering of Unidirectional Surface Waves

A perfectly conducting plane screen embedded in a gyrotropic medium is shown to be able to support a unidirectional surface wave. Such a surface wave is assumed to be incident on the top of a semi-infinite screen. At the edge the incident power is converted partly into a reflected surface wave which travels on the bottom of the screen and partly into a space wave. The angular distribution of the radiated energy as well as the power-reflection and the power-transmission coefficients are evaluated. Total reflection is shown to occur for a certain band of frequencies.