A Comparison of Integral, Differential and Hybrid Methods for TE-Wave Scattering from Inhomogeneous Dielectric Cylinders

Abstract

Trade-off's between integral and differential equation formulations for electromagnetic wave scattering from highly inhomogeneous dielectric bodies are evaluated, via a comparison of three different frequency-domain formulations for TE-wave scattering from dielectric cylinders. The formulations considered include a volume integral equation, a volume differential equation combined with an approximate near-field radiation condition, and a hybrid method using both a surface integral and volume differential equation. Numerical results indicate that all three methods have similar accuracy for a given scatterer model, and that the methods incorporating differential equations have significant computational advantages over volume integral formulations.