Propagation of electromagnetic waves in the earth-ionosphere waveguide with a gradual periodic inhomogeneity of the ionospheric upper-boundary impedance

We study the influence of a gradually inhomogeneous periodic disturbance of the upper-wall impedance of a plane Earth-Ionosphere waveguide on the radiation of a vertical electric dipole immersed in the waveguide channel. We consider the case where the disturbance amplitude is commensurable with the undisturbed value of the impedance. An expression is obtained for the Hertz potential when the source and the observation point are located at the lower wall of the waveguide. Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 374–383, March, 1998.