Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves by Thin Dielectric Planar Structures

The problem of scattering of electromagnetic waves by a thin dielectric planar structure is considered. If the squared index of refraction of the scatterer scales as $1/h$, where h is the thickness of the structure, we show that an approximate solution to the scattering problem can be obtained by a perturbation method. The approximate solution consists of two terms, the zeroth order term and the first order corrector, both of which can be found by solving 2‐D integral equations for 3‐D problems. We provide error estimates for the approximation. Therefore, the method described in this work can be viewed as a computational approach which can potentially greatly simplify scattering calculations for problems involving thin scatterers.