Three-dimensional radiative transfer in an anisotropically scattering, semi-infinite medium: generalized reflection function

Three-dimensional radiative transfer in an anisotropic scattering medium exposed to spatially varying, collimated radiation is studied. The generalized reflection function for a semi-infinite medium with a very general scattering phase function is the focus of this investigation. An integral transform is used to reduce the three-dimensional transport equation to a one-dimensional form, and a modified Ambarzumian's method is applied to formulate a nonlinear integral equation for the generalized reflection function. The integration is over both the polar and azimuthal angles; hence, the integral equation is said to be in the double-integral form. The double-integral, reflection function formulation can handle a variety of anisotropic phase functions and does not require an expansion of the phase function in a Legendre polynomial series. Complicated kernel transformations of previous single-integral studies are eliminated. Single and double scattering approximations are developed. Numerical results are presented for a Rayleigh phase function to illustrate the computational characteristics of the method and are compared to results obtained with the single-integral method. Agreement between the two approaches is excellent; however, as the transform variable increases beyond five the number of quadrature points required for the double-integral method to produce accurate solutions significantly increases. A new interpolation scheme produces accurate results when the transform variable is large.