Boundary element method calculation for coherent electromagnetic scattering from two and three dielectric spheres

• Published in: Engineering analysis with boundary elements Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 313 - 320
• Main Authors: Hall, W.S., Mao, X.Q.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 1995
• Subjects: Boundary element method; electromagnetic scattering; extinction efficiency; Mie's theory; multiple scattering; scattering intensity; system of spheres; multiple scattering; extinction efficiency; Mie's theory; scattering intensity; system of spheres; Boundary element method; electromagnetic scattering
• ISSN: 0955-7997; 1873-197X
• DOI: 10.1016/0955-7997(95)00041-L

A quadratic, isoparametric boundary element formulation has been used to calculate the multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves from systems of two and three dielectric spheres. Extinction efficiency results for the scattering of a plane wave are presented for variations of the separation of the two spheres in three kinds of orientations of the system with respect to the incident wave. These have been verified against analytical calculations based on Mie's theory and calculations by other authors. The results demonstrate a large side scattering resonance (the so-called specular resonance). Agreement between the results establishes the boundary element method as a very powerful tool for solving multiple scattering problems because the method applies to arbitrarily shaped objects having a homogeneous dielectric constant in any configuration. To illustrate the versatility of the method, scattering from three spheres is calculated.