Light scattering by multilayered axisymmetric particles: Solution of the problem by the separation of variables method

A new solution to the problem of light scattering by multilayered particles possessing axial symmetry is obtained. Two methods are applied for this purpose. One is the separation of variables method with expansion of fields in terms of spherical wave functions, and the other is a novel approach based on the separation of fields into axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric parts and on the choice of specific scalar potentials for each of them. A specific feature of the new solution is that the dimension of truncated linear algebraic systems used for determining unknown expansion coefficients of fields does not increase with an increasing number of layers. Using double-and three-layer spheroidal and Chebyshev particles of different shape and size as examples, the domain of applicability of the solution presented is compared with that of the solution previously obtained by the extended boundary conditions method. Except for nearly spherical particles, the solution presented is shown to be more favorable than the previously obtained solution.