English

Inverse scattering problem for the Maxwell's equations

Analysis of PDEs 2012-06-27 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

Inverse scattering problem is discussed for the Maxwell's equations. A reduction of the Maxwell's system to a new Fredholm second-kind integral equation with a {\it scalar weakly singular kernel} is given for electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering. This equation allows one to derive a formula for the scattering amplitude in which only a scalar function is present. If this function is small (an assumption that validates a Born-type approximation), then formulas for the solution to the inverse problem are obtained from the scattering data: the complex permittivity \ep(x)\ep'(x) in a bounded region DR3D\subset \R^3 is found from the scattering amplitude A(β,α,k)A(\beta,\alpha,k) known for a fixed k=ω\ep0μ0>0k=\omega\sqrt{\ep_0 \mu_0}>0 and all β,αS2\beta,\alpha \in S^2, where S2S^2 is the unit sphere in R3\R^3, \ep0\ep_0 and μ0\mu_0 are constant permittivity and magnetic permeability in the exterior region D=R3DD'=\R^3 \setminus D. The {\it novel points} in this paper include: i) A reduction of the inverse problem for {\it vector EM waves} to a {\it vector integral equation with scalar kernel} without any symmetry assumptions on the scatterer, ii) A derivation of the {\it scalar integral equation} of the first kind for solving the inverse scattering problem, and iii) Presenting formulas for solving this scalar integral equation. The problem of solving this integral equation is an ill-posed one. A method for a stable solution of this problem is given.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1206.5987,
  title  = {Inverse scattering problem for the Maxwell's equations},
  author = {A. G. Ramm},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.5987},
  year   = {2012}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:25:44.587Z