Non-Rayleigh limit of the Lorenz-Mie solution and suppression of the scattering by the spheres of negative refractive index

TL;DR

This paper investigates light scattering by spheres with negative refractive index, revealing deviations from Rayleigh's law, wavelength-independent scattering, and scattering suppression phenomena akin to Brewster's angles.

Contribution

It demonstrates non-Rayleigh scattering behaviors and suppression effects in negative index spheres, expanding understanding of light-matter interactions in such materials.

Findings

Scattering efficiency can be wavelength independent or increase with wavelength.

Spheres can exhibit directional scattering suppression similar to Brewster's angles.

Scattering does not always follow the classical Rayleigh law for small particles.

Abstract

We study light scattering by spheres made of negative refractive index materials. We demonstrate that scattering efficiency of the light does not always obey the well-known Rayleigh's law $Q_{\rm sca}\sim1/\lambda^4$ for small values of size parameter, but could be wavelength independent $Q_{\rm sca}\sim const$, or even increase with the wavelength as $Q_{\rm sca}\sim\lambda^2$. In addition, it is found that spheres with radius comparable with the input wavelength may exhibit suppression of the scattering in any directions, particularly in forward one. It can be considered as analogues of Brewster's angles for spheres.