Orientational averaging of integrated cross sections in the discrete dipole method

Using the discrete dipole method, exact and approximate analytical solutions for orientation-averaged cross sections for extinction, absorption, and scattering of light are obtained. The analytical solutions can be applied to the calculation of integrated cross sections of fractal clusters formed by primary particles with different optical properties (soot in air and aqueous suspensions of aggregates of polystyrene, gold, and silver nanoparticles). It is shown that two models of aggregates that differ only in trajectories (ballistic or Brownian) of primary particles and intermediate clusters and in average fractal dimensions give close values of averaged extinction cross sections.