Scattering of electromagnetic waves by small impedance particles of an arbitrary shape

TL;DR

This paper derives an explicit formula for the electromagnetic scattering by small impedance particles of arbitrary shape, showing how to engineer materials with specific refraction properties by embedding many such particles.

Contribution

It introduces a new explicit formula for EM scattering by small impedance particles and demonstrates how to create materials with tailored refraction coefficients using many embedded particles.

Findings

The scattered field is significantly larger than classical estimates for small particles.

The effective medium limit exists as particle size tends to zero with increasing particle number.

A method to design materials with desired optical properties through particle embedding.

Abstract

An explicit formula is derived for the electromagnetic (EM) field scattered by one small impedance particle $D$ of an arbitrary shape. If $a$ is the characteristic size of the particle, $\lambda$ is the wavelength, $a<<\lambda$ and $\zeta$ is the boundary impedance of $D$, $[N,[E,N]]=\zeta [N,H]$ on $S$, where $S$ is the surface of the particle, $N$ is the unit outer normal to $S$, and $E$, $H$ is the EM field, then the scattered field is $E_{sc}=[\nabla g(x,x_1), Q]$. Here $g(x,y)=\frac{e^{ik|x-y|}}{4\pi |x-y|}$, $k$ is the wave number, $x_1\in D$ is an arbitrary point, and $Q=-\frac{\zeta |S|}{i\omega \mu}\tau \nabla \times E_0$, where $E_0$ is the incident field, $|S|$ is the area of $S$, $\omega$ is the frequency, $\mu$ is the magnetic permeability of the space exterior to $D$, and $\tau$ is a tensor which is calculated explicitly. The scattered field is $O(|\zeta| a^2)>> O(a^3)$ as $a\to 0$ when $\lambda$ is fixed and $\zeta$ does not depend on $a$. Thus, $|E_{sc}|$ is much larger than the classical value $O(a^3)$ for the field scattered by a small particle. It is proved that the effective field in the medium, in which many small particles are embedded, has a limit as $a\to 0$ and the number $M=M(a)$ of the particles tends to $\infty$ at a suitable rate. Thislimit solves a linear integral equation. The refraction coefficient of the limiting medium is calculated analytically. This yields a recipe for creating materials with a desired refraction coefficient.