Limiting absorption principle for time-harmonic elastic scattering of plane waves from diffraction gratings

Abstract

We establish the limiting absorption principle for time-harmonic elastic scattering of plane waves by a periodic rigid diffraction grating. By perturbing the frequency with a small positive imaginary part, we regularize the ill-posed problem at propagative wavenumbers (that is, when uniqueness fails under the classical Rayleigh expansion condition) and characterize the limiting solution via a singular perturbation result from functional analysis. The limiting solution satisfies the original scattering problem together with an additional constraint that ensures uniqueness. Both incident pressure and shear waves are considered, and the same constraint condition is obtained in both cases. The results provide a rigorous selection mechanism for physically admissible solutions at resonance frequencies. Our framework extends naturally to the Neumann (cavity) boundary condition as well as other transmission conditions, in particular when guided waves exist in periodic structures.