Pulse broadening of enhanced backscattering from rough surfaces

Abstract

Recently, we presented a study of pulse scattering by rough surfaces based on the first-order Kirchhoff approximation which is applicable to rough surfaces with RMS slope less than 0.5 and correlation distance l?λ. However, there has been an increased interest in enhanced backscattering from rough surfaces, study of which requires inclusion of the second-order Kirchhoff approximation with shadowing corrections. This paper presents a theory for the two-frequency mutual coherence function in this region and shows that the multiple scattering on the surface gives rise to an additional pulse tail in the direction of enhanced backscattering. The theory predicts pulse broadening approximately 20% greater than that caused by single scattering alone for a delta-function incident pulse and typical surface parameters. Analytical results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations and millimetre-wave experiments for the one-dimensional rough surface with RMS height 1λ and correlation distance 1λ, showing good agreement.