A novel phase function describing light scattering of layers containing colloidal nanospheres

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Computational Physics

Background:

• Light scattering from small particles shows unique angular distributions dependent on particle size, wavelength, and refractive index.
• Increased particle concentration leads to multiple scattering, complicating scattering pattern analysis and often requiring empirical phase functions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To measure and analyze the angle-dependent light scattering from polymer layers containing sub-micron metallic and dielectric particles.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of empirical phase functions in describing observed scattering patterns.
• To introduce and validate a novel two-term Reynolds-McCormick (TTRM) phase function for diverse scattering regimes.

Main Methods:

• Experimental measurement of angular light scattering from polymer layers with embedded sub-micron particles.
• Fitting experimental data to various empirical approximative phase functions.
• Numerical simulations of Mie single scattering phase functions for validation.

Main Results:

• Observed strongly forward and backward peaked scattering patterns from the polymer composite samples.
• The novel two-term Reynolds-McCormick (TTRM) phase function provided the best fit to the experimental data across all samples.
• The TTRM approach showed good agreement with Mie scattering simulations for Rayleigh to geometrical optics regimes.

Conclusions:

• The TTRM phase function is a highly adaptable and accurate model for describing angular scattering distributions.
• This approach is effective for various nanospheres and nanocomposites under both single and multiple scattering conditions.
• The TTRM method offers a robust alternative to empirical functions for analyzing complex light scattering phenomena.