OPTICS OF 2-PHASE COMPOSITES

The optical behaviour of composites, being inhomogeneous on a length scale much smaller than the wavelength of light, can be described by an effective dielectric constant. This depends on the dielectric constants of the constituents and on the topology of the system. Simple mixing equations for the effective dielectric function often fail to describe experiments with respect to quantity. The so-called Bergman representation can be adapted to a given topology and then gives satisfactory results.