Diffraction from an irregular screen with applications to ionospheric problems

Abstract An analysis is made of the diffraction effects produced when a plane wave is incident upon an irregular diffracting screen, and the results are applied to the problem of the reflexion of radio waves from an ionosphere which is irregular in the horizontal plane. The nature of the irregular screen is assumed to be given in terms of the variation of electric wave-field in a plane just beyond the screen, and it is assumed that variations occur over the plane in one direction only. It is further assumed that the screen is 'random’ in the sense that it is one of an assembly all of which differ from each other, but have statistical properties in common, and deductions are made about the diffraction patterns averaged over the assembly. It is shown that many aspects of the problem can be investigated by use of the theory of ‘random’ electrical noise as developed by Rice and Uhlenbeck. The angular spectrum (Fraunhofer diffraction pattern) and the Fresnel diffraction pattern are described in terms of their spatial auto-correlation functions, and there is some discussion of a related method of dealing with Fresnel diffraction problems from completely determined screens. In part II of the paper the irregular ‘fading’ exhibited by a radio wave returned from the ionosphere is discussed in terms of two models in which the fading is assumed to be produced by movements of the diffracting centres in the ionosphere. The temporal auto-correlation function of the amplitude of the irregularly fading signal is related to the velocity of the ionospheric diffracting centres.