Backscattering enhancement of random discrete scatterers

Abstract

A recent laboratory-controlled optical experiment demonstrates that a sharp peak of small but finite angular width is exhibited in backscattering from a random distribution of discrete scatterers. In this paper the phenomenon is explained by using a second-order multiple-scattering theory of discrete particles. The theory gives an angular width of the order of the attenuation rate divided by the wave number and is in agreement with experimental observations. The relations of the present results to past theories on backscattering enhancements are also discussed.