High energy light scattering in the generalized eikonal approximation

Abstract

The generalized eikonal approximation method is applied to the study of light scattering by a dielectric medium. In this method, the propagation of light inside the medium is assumed to be rectilinear, as in the usual eikonal method, but with a parameterized propagator which is used to include the edge effect and ray optics behavior at the limit of very short wavelengths. The resulting formulas for the intensity and extinction efficiency factor are compared numerically and shown to agree excellently with the exact results for a homogeneous dielectric sphere.