Effective scatterer approximation for mean field modeling with application to vegetation

A new electromagnetic method is developed for the mean field analysis of discrete random media in which particles are distributed in disjoint regions in space. This type of distribution can be observed in organized vegetation canopies, photonic band gap materials and disordered crystals. The method is based on an ‘effective scatterer’ concept. As far as the mean field is concerned, the random problem is approximated by a deterministic one composed of effective scatterers. Application of the effective scatterer approach to two-dimensional mean field propagation through a cylinder distribution that is periodic on average is verified by Monte Carlo simulations. Comparisons with other known methods such as the Foldy approximation are also presented.