On the far-field approximation for scattering from randomly rough surfaces

Various authors have justified the far-fields approximation for rough surface scattering using one of the classical approximations for the scattered fields, usually considering either the coherent scattered field or the incoherent scattered intensity. An exact expression for the field scattered from a perfectly conducting rough surface is considered. The expression for the incoherent scattered intensity is formally derived, and a condition under which the far-field approximation is valid is found, independent of specific approximations for the surface or scattered fields or for the surface height statistics. The condition so derived is, under many circumstances, substantially less restrictive than that derived before in the general case. Furthermore, the previous results may be easily recovered by further specialization of our result.