Electromagnetic wave propagation in polycrystalline materials: effective medium approach

A theory for the propagation of electromagnetic waves in inhomogeneous solids made of anisotropic crystallites is developed in the framework of the effective medium approach. The macroscopic dielectric tensor can explicitly be expressed by characteristic integrals containing the radial distribution function and a single anisotropy parameter. The phase mismatch of the waves scattered from misoriented crystallites leads to absorption and refraction effects that are calculated using a self-consistent approach in the sense of the distorted-wave approximation. For higher frequencies resonance structures occur which can be interpreted as an interference effect between disturbed and undisturbed waves in the effective medium.