A new approach for dealing with the EM scattering from parallel cylinders

The storage capacity and CPU time have been two major restrictions on the application of matrix methods to EM scattering problems. The author proposed an approach termed the generalized image method (GIM) to simplify the study of the scattering from asymmetric structures. Further investigation showed that the approach can also be used in the scattering from symmetric structures. The extension is illustrated here by the scattering from two parallel cylinders. For scattering from two identical cylinders symmetrically placed, the storage required for solving it by matrix methods can be reduced by a factor of one-fourth. If one of the cylinders is moved a distance from the y=0 plane, the symmetry will be destroyed, and two sets of basis functions have to be used, which might make the required storage unacceptable. However, when the asymmetrically placed cylinders constitute a antisymmetric structure, the difficulty can be circumvented through GIM.<>