LIGHT-SCATTERING BY DIELECTRIC NEEDLES AND DISKS

Light-scattering properties of very thin or flat dielectric particles are approximately calculated by means of a method which combines Rayleigh-Gans and Rayleigh scattering. For the approximation to be valid the shortest diameter of the particle, Rmin, must be small compared to the longest diameter Rmax and to the wavelength λ of the incident radiation. The method is applied to needles and circular disks and yields the scattering matrix and the differential and total scattering cross section in the lowest order of Rmin/Rmax and Rmin/λ. For the disks the total cross section is calculated only in the limiting cases of long and short wavelengths.