TRANSMISSION OF A THIN-FILM OF SPHERICAL-PARTICLES ON A DIELECTRIC SUBSTRATE - THE CONCEPT OF EFFECTIVE MEDIUM REVISITED

A simple comparison with predictions from a scattering surface model shows discrepancies in treatments of thin island films that are based on the effective-medium model. A new approach is thus proposed, and the transmission of a square network of spherical particles on a dielectric substrate is recalculated in a dipolar approximation. Although a convenient multipolar treatment, which would permit retardation-related effects to be handled in a proper way, is still missing, the present partially retarded treatment shows a clear improvement over available predictions.