Multiple scattering by random particulate media: exact 3D results

We use the numerically exact superposition T-matrix method to perform extensive computations of electromagnetic scattering by a 3D volume filled with randomly distributed wavelength-sized particles. These computations are used to simulate and analyze the effect of randomness of particle positions as well as the onset and evolution of various multiple-scattering effects with increasing number of particles in a statistically homogeneous volume of discrete random medium. Our exact results illustrate and substantiate the methodology underlying the microphysical theories of radiative transfer and coherent backscattering. Furthermore, we show that even in densely packed media, the light multiply scattered along strings of widely separated particles still provides a significant contribution to the total scattered signal and thereby makes quite pronounced the classical radiative transfer and coherent backscattering effects. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.