Scattering

Scattering is a general physical process where some forms of radiation, such as light, sound, or moving particles, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more paths due to localized non-uniformities in the medium through which they pass. In conventional use, this also includes deviation of reflected radiation from the angle predicted by the law of reflection. Reflections that undergo scattering are often called diffuse reflection and unscattered reflections are called specular reflection.

Types of scattering

There are several specific types of scattering, including:

• Rayleigh scattering, named after the British scientist Lord Rayleigh, is the predominantly elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation.
• Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, is the scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles of similar size to the wavelength of the radiation.
• Brillouin scattering, named after the French physicist Léon Brillouin, occurs when light in a medium interacts with time-dependent optical density variations and is scattered.
• Raman scattering, named after the Indian scientist C. V. Raman, is the inelastic scattering of a photon by molecules which are excited to higher energy levels.

Scattering theory

Scattering theory is a framework for studying and understanding the scattering of waves and particles. Prosaically, wave scattering corresponds to the collision and scattering of a wave with some material object, for instance sunlight scattered by rain drops to form a rainbow.

Applications

Scattering methods are very important in various branches of physics, including quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, particle physics, and astronomy. They are also used in some areas of biology, primarily in microscopy.

See also

• Absorption (physics)
• Scattering cross-section
• Scattering length
• Scattering amplitude
• Scattering matrix
• Scattering channel
• Scattering experiment

External links

• Scattering at ScienceWorld

Scattering Resources
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