Abstract

A simple theory of enhanced backscattering from weakly rough dielectric and metallic surfaces is presented in which constructive interference of time-reversed scattering paths is explicitly displayed. We show that, when starting from a perturbative second-order electromagnetic theory, one may calculate the backscattering intensity distribution from a single analytic formula. Excellent agreement is obtained with published results that were achieved with extensive numerical simulations. In the case of scattering from dielectric surfaces or loss-less metallic surfaces, the angular width of the backscattering peak is determined solely by diffraction.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

Backscattering enhancement from a dielectric surface

P. Tran, A. A. Maradudin, and V. Celli
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