Light scattering on Chebyshev particles of higher order

Abstract

In this paper we present first results of a light scattering analysis on several Chebyshev particles characterized by higher orders. Chebyshev particles of comparatively lower orders are used in the past to study the effects of nonspherical but concave geometries in remote sensing applications. Here we will show that, based on the developed methodology, accurate results can be also obtained for particles of higher orders exhibiting a more pronounced surface waviness. The achieved results demonstrate that higher order Chebyshev particles can be used to estimate the influence of a weak surface roughness on the light scattering behaviour of the underlying smooth scatterer. The obtained effects correspond with results of other approaches and with the theoretical expectations of a weak surface roughness. In contrast to what is known for regular particles there can be observed an essential difference between the phase functions of the underlying spherical scatterer and the corresponding higher order Chebyshev particle if a higher absorptivity of the scattering medium is considered. This paper demonstrates additionally that Chebyshev polynomials can be simply combined with other smooth geometries than spheres.