The factorization method for inverse elastic scattering from periodic structures

This paper is concerned with the inverse problem of scattering of time-harmonic elastic waves from rigid periodic structures. We establish the factorization method to identify an unknown diffraction grating profile (periodic surface) from knowledge of the scattered compressional or shear waves measured on a line above the periodic surface. Near-field operators are factorized by selecting appropriate incident waves derived from quasi-periodic half-space Green’s tensor to the Navier equation. The factorization method gives rise to a uniqueness result for the inverse scattering problem by utilizing only the compressional or shear components of the scattered field corresponding to all quasi-periodic incident plane waves with a common phase-shift. A number of computational examples are provided to show the accuracy of the inversion algorithms, with emphasis placed on comparing reconstructions from the scattered near field and those from its compressional and shear components. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)