Abstract

The extinction due to a group of identical particles in a fixed orientation is studied. An analytical description based on the Maxwell volume integral equation is presented, describing the interference energy flow due to a group of noninteracting identical particles. As compared to a single particle, the effect of multiple particles is shown to narrow the angular region around the forward direction over which the dominant contribution to the group’s extinction cross section occurs. The extinction due to a group of fully interacting nonspherical particles is studied using the discrete dipole approximation. Interparticle interactions are found not to change the essential character of the interference-based energy flow mechanism that describes extinction.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

Extinction and the optical theorem. Part I. Single particles

Matthew J. Berg, Christopher M. Sorensen, and Amitabha Chakrabarti
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 25(7) 1504-1513 (2008)

Generalization of the optical theorem for light scattering from a particle at a planar interface

Alex Small, Jerome Fung, and Vinothan N. Manoharan
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 30(12) 2519-2525 (2013)

Failure of the optical theorem for Gaussian-beam scattering by a spherical particle

James A. Lock, Joseph T. Hodges, and Gérard Gouesbet
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 12(12) 2708-2715 (1995)

Orientation-averaged light-extinction characteristics of compound particles including aggregate effects

Tae-Woo Lee
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 22(3) 514-517 (2005)

Single-scattering properties of triaxial ellipsoidal particles for a size parameter range from the Rayleigh to geometric-optics regimes

Lei Bi, Ping Yang, George W. Kattawar, and Ralph Kahn
Appl. Opt. 48(1) 114-126 (2009)