A set of basis functions to improve numerical calculation of Mie scattering in the Chandrasekhar-Sekera representation

Abstract

Numerical calculations of light propagation in random media demand the multiply scattered Stokes intensities to be written in a common fixed reference. A particularly useful way to perform automatically these basis transformations is to write the scattered intensities in the Chandrasekhar-Sekera representation. This representation produces side effects so that numerical tests are necessary to deal with the limiting situations of the small-particle (Rayleigh) and forward/backward scattering. Here a new set of basis functions is presented to describe the scattering of light by spherical particles (Mie scattering) in the Chandrasekhar-Sekera representation. These basis functions can be implemented in a new algorithm to calculate the Mie scattering amplitudes, which leads straightforwardly to all the scattering quantities. In contrast to the traditional implementation, this set of basis functions implies to natural numerical convergence to the above mentioned limiting cases, which are thoroughly discussed.