Plane-wave scattering by N conducting circular cylinders arbitrarily placed near a partially reflecting flat surface

A general approach is presented for treating the scattering of a plane wave by an arbitrary configuration of N perfectly conducting circular cylinders placed in front of a plane surface. The latter is characterized by its angle-dependent complex reflection coefficient /spl Gamma/. The method employs the angular spectrum representation of cylindrical waves, and seems promising for several applications in electromagnetics and optics. An example of a diffraction grating is discussed in particular.