Ground-breaking contribution to the literature, widely used by scientists, engineers, and students. Topics include theory of wave propagation in randomly inhomogeneous media, ray and wave theories of scattering at random inhomogeneities, more. 1960 edition.

The past decade has witnessed breakthroughs in the understanding of the wave localization phenomena and its implications for wave multiple scattering in inhomogeneous media. This book brings together review articles written by noted researchers in this field in a tutorial manner so as to give the readers a coherent picture of its status. It would be valuable both as an up-to-date reference for active researchers as well as a readable source for students looking to gain an understanding of the latest results.

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications WAVE PROPAGATION IN COMPLEX MEDIA is based on the proceedings of two workshops: • Wavelets, multigrid and other fast algorithms (multipole, FFT) and their use in wave propagation and • Waves in random and other complex media. Both workshops were integral parts of the 1994-1995 IMA program on "Waves and Scattering." We would like to thank Gregory Beylkin, Robert Burridge, Ingrid Daubechies, Leonid Pastur, and George Papanicolaou for their excellent work as organizers of these meetings. We also take this opportunity to thank the National Science Foun dation (NSF), the Army Research Office (ARO, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), whose financial support made these workshops possible. A vner Friedman Robert Gulliver v PREFACE During the last few years the numerical techniques for the solution of elliptic problems, in potential theory for example, have been drastically improved. Several so-called fast methods have been developed which re duce the required computing time many orders of magnitude over that of classical algorithms. The new methods include multigrid, fast Fourier transforms, multi pole methods and wavelet techniques. Wavelets have re cently been developed into a very useful tool in signal processing, the solu tion of integral equation, etc. Wavelet techniques should be quite useful in many wave propagation problems, especially in inhomogeneous and nonlin ear media where special features of the solution such as singularities might be tracked efficiently.

Since publication of the first edition of this text in 1998, there have been several new, important developments in the theory of beam wave propagation through a random medium, which have been incorporated into this second edition. Also new to this edition are models for the scintillation index under moderate-to-strong irradiance fluctuations; models for aperture averaging based on ABCD ray matrices; beam wander and its effects on scintillation; theory of partial coherence of the source; models of rough targets for ladar applications; phase fluctuations; analysis of other beam shapes; plus expanded analysis of free-space optical communication systems and imaging systems.

Provides scientists and engineers with a tool for accurate assessment of diffraction and ducting on radio and radar systems. The author gives the mathematical background to parabolic equations modeling and describes simple parabolic equation algorithms before progressing to more advanced topics such as domain truncation, the treatment of impedance boundaries, and the implementation of very fast hybrid methods combining ray-tracing and parabolic equation techniques. The last three chapters are devoted to scattering problems, with application to propagation in urban environments and to radar-cross- section computation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR