Light-scattering models for spheres on a conducting plane: comparison with experiment

Appl Opt. 1987 Aug 1;26(15):2995-9. doi: 10.1364/AO.26.002995.

Abstract

Three models have been developed to describe light scattering from a sphere in contact with a mirror. With two of the models the mirror was replaced with an image sphere. Light scattering from each sphere is assumed to follow the Mie theory: no further interaction between the sphere and mirror is assumed. The models differ in their consideration of the interaction of scattered fields from the spheres. The results of the models are compared to experimental values obtained for polystyrene spheres, 0.984 microm in diameter, with incident radiation lambda= 0.6328 and 0.4416 microm. The comparison indicates that a best fit can be obtained by assuming that the real sphere and its image sphere are coherent light sources with a phase difference of pi.