Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net 1023-5809 1607-7946 12 6 2005 10.5194/npg-12-1003-2005 http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/12/1003/2005/ http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/12/1003/2005/npg-12-1003-2005.html http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/12/1003/2005/npg-12-1003-2005.pdf 1003 1009 2005-11-21 Chaotic ray propagation in corrugated layers M. Bottiglieri S. De Martino M. Falanga C. Godano cataldo.godano@unina2.it Environmental Department, Second University of Naples, via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta and CNISM, Italy Physics Department, University of Salerno, via S. Allende, 84081 Baronissi Salerno and INFN -- Gruppo collegato di Salerno, Italy The aim of this paper is to study the effects of a corrugated wall on the behaviour of propagating rays. Different types of corrugation are considered, using different distributions of the corrugation heights: white Gaussian, power law, self-affine perturbation. In phase space, a prevalent chaotic behaviour of rays, and the presence of a lot of caustics, are observed. These results entail that the KAM theorem is not fulfilled.