Depolarization of electromagnetic waves excited by distributions of electric and magnetic sources in inhomogeneous multilayered structures of arbitrarily varying thickness. Full wave solutions

Full wave solutions to the problem of depolarization of electromagnetic waves excited by general three-dimensional distributions of electric and magnetic sources in inhomogeneous multilayered structures of arbitrarily varying thickness are derived. Generalized field transforms that provide an appropriate basis for the expansion of transverse electromagnetic fields are employed to convert Maxwell's equations into a set of coupled first order ordinary differential equations for the forward and backward, vertically and horizontally polarized wave amplitudes. The continuous parts of the complete wave spectrum correspond to the radiation and lateral wave terms while the discrete part of the wave spectrum corresponds to the surface wave or trapped waveguide modes. Exact boundary conditions are imposed at all the interfaces of the structure and the solution is not restricted by the surface impedance concept. When the bounding media of the structure are characterized by perfect electric or magnetic walls, the fields are expressed exclusively in terms of waveguide modes. On the other hand, if the electromagnetic parameters are functions of one coordinate variable, the solutions are expressed exclusively in terms of an infinite integral—the radiation term. The solutions are shown to satisfy the reciprocity relationships.