Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
The problem considered is that of the diffraction of sound pulses by a plane interface separating two stratified media in each of which the refractive index increases with distance from the interface. Two types of diffraction phenomena occur, glancing ray diffraction and total reflection. The solution is obtained as a series of ‘pulse propagation modes’, using a double transform technique. The main results are some formulae for the pulse field near a diffracted wavefront.