Analysis of the shadow-sausage effect caustic

We analyze the optical caustic produced by light refracted at the curved meniscus surrounding a cylindrical rod standing partially out of a liquid-filled container. When the rod is tilted from the vertical or when light is diagonally incident, the caustic is a four-cusped astroid with two of its cusps obscured by the rod's shadow. If a portion of the flat end of the rod is raised above the water level, the caustic evolves into a pattern of five interlocking cusps. The five cusps result from symmetry breaking of a three-cusped surface perturbation caustic.     

Experimental observation of total-internal-reflection rainbows

A new class of rainbows is created when a droplet is illuminated from the inside by a point light source. The position of the rainbow depends on both the index of refraction of the droplet and the position of the light source, and the rainbow vanishes when the point source is too close to the center of the droplet. Here we experimentally measure the position of the transmission and one-internal-reflection total-internal-reflection rainbows, and the standard (primary) rainbow, as a function of light-source position.     

On the accuracy of the transmission line model of the folded dipole

A folded dipole is basically an unbalanced transmission line which radiates as a result of its unbalanced condition. It is known that the folded dipole may be analyzed by considering its current to be composed of two distinct modes, namely, a transmission line mode and an antenna mode. The transmission line model of the folded dipole is investigated with the objectives of determining a) the accuracy of the model and b) the importance of using an equivalent radius in the model. To check the transmission line model, the method of moments is used as a standard for comparison.     

A hybrid technique for combining the moment method treatment of wire antennas with the GTD for curved surfaces

This hybrid technique is a method for solving electromagnetic problems in which an antenna is located near a conducting body. The technique accomplishes this by casting the antenna structure in a moment method (MM) format, then modifying that format to account for the effects of the conducting body via the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD). The technique extends the moment method to handle problems that cannot be solved by GTD or the moment method alone. Wire antennas are analyzed to find their input impedance when they are located near perfectly conducting circular cylinders, although the methods used are not restricted to circular cylinders. Three orthogonal orientations are identified, and antennas to match them are analyzed. For each case, the hybrid solution is checked with one of three independent solutions: an MM-eigenfunction solution, image theory, or experimental measurement. In almost all cases, excellent agreement is obtained due in large part to the fact that the moment method near fields are, for the first time, cast into a ray optical form.