Abstract
A numerical technique that requires neither extensive mathematical analysis nor much computational effort is introduced and used to calculate electromagnetic scattering from periodic structures. The method is capable of solving homogeneous or inhomogeneous, lossless or lossy, conductor or dielectric arrays of rectangular cylinders or strips. Numerical results are presented and compared against results for self-complementary gratings which are obtained by a rigorous Wiener-Hopf technique and serve as benchmarks. These comparisons show the efficacy and accuracy of our proposed technique. Further results are obtained and compared with those reported in the literature that are based on other numerical methods or approximations such as surface impedance models.