Scattering of waves from large spheres / Walter T. Grandy, Jr.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

1. Classical scattering -- 2. Scattering of scalar waves -- 3. Scattering of electromagnetic waves from spherical targets -- 4. First applications of the Mie solution -- 5. Short-wavelength scattering from transparent spheres -- 6. Scattering observables for large dielectric spheres -- 7. Scattering resonances -- 8. Extensions and further applications -- App. A. Spherical Bessel functions -- App. B. Airy functions -- App. C. Asymptotic properties of cylinder functions -- App. D. Spherical angular functions -- App. E. Approximation of integrals -- App. F.A note on Mie computations.

This book describes the scattering of waves, both scalar and electromagnetic, from impenetrable and penetrable spheres. Although the scattering of plane waves from spheres is an old subject, there is little doubt that it is still maturing as a broad range of new applications demands an understanding of finer details. In this book attention is focused primarily on spherical radii much larger than incident wavelengths, along with the asymptotic techniques required for physical analysis of the scattering mechanisms involved. Applications to atmospheric phenomena such as the rainbow and glory are included, as well as a detailed analysis of optical resonances. Extensions of the theory to inhomogeneous and nonspherical particles, collections of spheres, and bubbles are also discussed. This book will be of primary interest to graduate students and researchers in physics (particularly in the fields of optics, the atmospheric sciences and astrophysics), electrical engineering, physical chemistry and some areas of biology.