Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

The Wiener–Hopf–Hilbert method is used to obtain an exact solution to the problem of diffraction by a perfectly conducting half‐plane in a gyrotropic medium, when the distinguished axis of the medium is perpendicular to the half‐plane. The incident field is a plane wave whose direction of propagation is perpendicular to the edge of the half‐plane. The problem has not previously been solved exactly. The answer is given in terms of Fourier transforms of the field components; these turn out to be simple algebraic functions. But the field quantities themselves are not, in general, expressible in terms of known functions. A few special cases are investigated and possible generalizations of the problem are mentioned.