DIFFRACTION AND BEAM STEERING OF MAGNETOSTATIC SURFACE WAVES.

A theoretical treatment is reported of the beam spreading of magnetostatic surface waves (MSSW's) resulting from the diffraction effects associated with the finite length of practical transducers and the beam steering effects associated with the pronounced anisotropy of MSSW propagation. The computed MSSW beam spreading is in good agreement with recently reported experimental results. Computed diffraction patterns indicate that MSSW's suffer a significantly larger beam spreading than SAW's on YZ LiNbO//3. The beadspreading of MSSW's is further determined to be larger than that of magnetic from the radiating transducer, with the two becoming comparable at large distances.