A hybrid method for the solution of scattering from inhomogeneous dielectric cylinders of arbitrary shape

A hybrid moment method/edge-element method (MM/EEM) is presented. The formulation is quite general; however, the method is applied to two-dimensional scattering problems. Such a hybrid formulation unites the advantages of finite and integral-equation methods and is able to handle unbounded problems in which complex inhomogeneities are present. The edge-element method is easily coupled to the moment method, and it doesn´t introduce spurious modes. The equivalence principle is used to divide the original problem into two separate problems: an unbounded homogeneous one in which the moment method is used and a bounded inhomogeneous one in which the edge-element method is used. Several examples involving two-dimensional scattering with TE and TM plane wave excitation are presented. The RCS is computed and compared to results obtained by other numerical techniques.