The research program will investigate the general electromagnetic problems posed by beams scattered by stratified or periodic boundaries, with special attention to several peculiar effects that have only recently been recognized, namely: unexpectedly large lateral, focal and angular beam shifts, as well as modifications of the beam waist and distortions of its intensity profile. These non- specular phenomena are most pronounced when the incident fields couple energy to waves guided by the scattering structure. The interactions between beams and guided waves will therefore be explored in detail, an original approach being used to examine the dispersive properties of the scattering configuration in terms of its characteristic (surface, leaky, etc.) modes. Specific pertinent questions will then be addressed, such as: the effect of the non-specular effects, and procedures to enhance those effects. The results are particularly relevant to engineering areas involving the control and manipulation of well confined beam fields, with potential applications in integrated optics, ultrasonics and microwave acoutics.
