Ramsauer approach to Mie scattering of light on spherical particles

TL;DR

This paper applies the Ramsauer approach, originally from atomic physics, to approximate Mie scattering of light on spherical particles, providing clearer physical insights and analytical formulas that match well with traditional solutions.

Contribution

It introduces a Ramsauer-based analytical framework for Mie scattering, offering a new perspective and simplified formulas for understanding scattering phenomena.

Findings

Ramsauer formulas approximate Mie scattering cross sections well

The approach clarifies physical origins of scattering structures

Analytical expressions simplify interpretation of scattering data

Abstract

The scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave by a spherical particle was solved analytically by Gustav Mie in 1908. The Mie solution is expressed as a series with very many terms thus obscuring the physical interpretations of the results. The purpose of the paper is to try to illustrate this phenomenon within the Ramsauer framework used in atomic and nuclear physics. We show that although the approximations are numerous, the Ramsauer analytical formulae describe fairly well the differential and the total cross sections. This allows us to propose an explanation for the origin of the different structures in the total cross section.