Single integral equation for electromagnetic scattering by three-dimensional homogeneous dielectric objects

A single integral equation formulation for electromagnetic scattering by three-dimensional (3-D) homogeneous dielectric objects is developed. In this formulation, a single effective electric current on the surface S of a dielectric object is used to generate the scattered fields in the interior region. The equivalent electric and magnetic currents for the exterior region are obtained by enforcing the continuity of the tangential fields across S, A single integral equation for the effective electric current is obtained by enforcing the vanishing of the total field due to the exterior equivalent currents inside S. The single integral equation is solved by the method of moments. Numerical results for a dielectric sphere obtained with this method are in good agreement with the exact results. Furthermore, the convergence speed of the iterative solution of the matrix equation in this formulation is significantly greater than that of the coupled integral equations formulation.