Power Series Expansion of the Mie Scattering Phase Function

Abstract

We develop power series expansions for both the Mie theory scattering amplitudes and the scattering phase matrix elements in terms of the variable s = sin2W, where () is the scattering angle. It is easily seen that s is the natural variable for such expansions. These expansions should prove particularly useful whenever the forward diffraction peak, rather than the entire phase function, is of primary interest. Possible applications include the analysis of solar aureole data and the modelling of laser beam propagation in fogs and dust clouds.