Observation of the enhanced backscattering of light by the end of a tilted dielectric cylinder owing to the caustic merging transition

Philip L Marston; Yibing Zhang; David B Thiessen

doi:10.1364/ao.42.000412

Observation of the enhanced backscattering of light by the end of a tilted dielectric cylinder owing to the caustic merging transition

Appl Opt. 2003 Jan 20;42(3):412-7. doi: 10.1364/ao.42.000412.

Authors

Philip L Marston¹, Yibing Zhang, David B Thiessen

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA. marston@wsu.edu

PMID: 12570262
DOI: 10.1364/ao.42.000412

Abstract

The scattering of light by obliquely illuminated circular dielectric cylinders was previously demonstrated to be enhanced by a merger of Airy caustics at a critical tilt angle. [Appl. Opt. 37, 1534 (1998)]. A related enhancement is demonstrated here for backward and near-backward scattering for cylinders cut with a flat end perpendicular to the cylinder's axis. It is expected that merged caustics will enhance the backscattering by clouds of randomly oriented circular cylinders that have appropriately flat ends.