Superposition rule for light scattering by a composite particle
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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Controlled Synthesis and Fluorescence Tracking of Highly Uniform Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Microgels
Published on: September 8, 2016
1Department of Physics, Fairfield University, Connecticut 06430, USA. mxu@mail.fairfield.edu
Abstract:
A superposition rule for light scattering by composite particles is presented that expresses the scattering amplitude of a composite particle as a superposition of that of the host particle and those of the shadowed inclusions. The superposition rule is derived for a soft composite particle but also provides insight into light scattering by a general composite scatterer. Favorable comparison with an exact numerical method demonstrates the usefulness of the rule in analyzing light scattering by composite particles such as biological cells.
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