Specular and diffuse scattering of light from two-dimensional randomly rough metal surfaces: experimental and theoretical results

Abstract

Abstract We compare experimental results for s- and p-polarized light scattered specularly and diffusely from two-dimensional randomly rough metal surfaces with the predictions of three perturbation theories and the Kirchhoff approximation. The wavelength of the incident field is m. We conclude that the results of phase perturbation theory are closest to all the experimental results in both s- and p-polarization for the reflectivities as well as for the contribution to the mean differential reflection coefficient from the diffuse component of the scattered light for in-plane, co-polarized scattering. Acknowledgments The work of A.G.N.A., E.I.C., and E.R.M. was supported in part by CONACYT (México), under Grant 47700. The research of T.A.L. and A.A.M. was supported in part by AFRL contract AF 9453-08-C-0230. We are grateful to the anonymous referees for cogent comments and advice on our paper.