Electromagnetic Scattering from an Arbitrarily Illuminated Cylinder in an Anisotropic Plasma

We present a theoretical framework for calculation and analysis of the scattering from an arbitrarily illuminated and electrically thin cylinder immersed in a cold anisotropic plasma. The two-dimensional current distribution induced along the surface of the cylinder when impinged by a non-coplanar and arbitrarily-directed incident very low frequency (VLF: 3–30 kHz) wave is analytically modeled and solved. Based on the current distribution, closed-form expressions for the scattered field by the arbitrarily oriented cylinder are derived through fully considering the anisotropic properties of the ambient medium as well as the effects of an arbitrarily incident wave. Computations and analyses show that the surface current and scattering field of the cylinder would exhibit asymmetrical characteristics due to a nonorthogonal incident electromagnetic wave. Besides, the main lobe of the scattering pattern for the arbitrarily illuminated cylinder is still oriented along the direction of the background magnetic field as the propagation distance increases.