On the validity of modeling rayleigh scatterers by spheroids

For single homogeneous lossy dielectric Rayleigh particles, the manner in which the particle shape affects the absorption and scattering is examined by computing the polarizability tensor elements using a general purpose program valid for any rotationally symmetric body. The results for a number of generic shapes are compared with those for the corresponding spheroids. When the dielectric constant is real and negative, the resonances attributable to bulk and to shape-dependent or surface polariton modes are tracked as functions of the length-to-width ratio of the particle and the bulk dielectric constant. The adequacy of using spheroid approximations for individual particles in a dispersion is also discussed.