Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves from Nanostructured, Self-Affine Fractal Surfaces: Near-Field Enhancements

Since the early days of fractality1, the scattering of electromagnetic (EM) waves from fractal surfaces has been a field of intense activity. Physical fractals appear ubiquitously in nature, possessing fractal properties within a broad, however finite, range of scales. Therefore the study of classical wave scattering from fractals is a problem of interest not only from a fundamental point of view, but also from the practical knowledge that probing technologies, such as surface optical characterization, remote sensing, radar, and sonar, can yield about a wide variety of systems. In fact, it is now well understood that many naturally occurring surfaces exhibit scale invariance, particularly in the form of self-affinity.1-4