On approximations of the Helmholtz equation in the halfspace: Their relevance to inverse diffraction (Q796331)

The solution of the Helmholtz equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions (BC) having compact support can be approximated along two basic paths, i.e., in the spatial frequency (reciprocal) domain and in the spatial (direct) one. The former leads to the paraxial equation, the latter to the Fresnel transform. We show that these results coincide. The paraxial approximation requires the Fourier transform (FT) of the boundary condition to have an adequately bounded support. This constraint applies therefore to Fresnel's formula and to the related ''Fourier optics'' approximation. We discuss, by an example, the sensitivity of approximated solutions with respect to the BC type.