Electromagnetic scattering

Summary

Electromagnetic scattering is the process by which an object redirects part of an incident electromagnetic wave. The object may also be a region where the material differs from its surroundings. The total field is written as the incident field plus a scattered field that radiates outward from the object. Far away, the scattered field is an outgoing spherical wave whose angular profile is the far-field pattern. Scattering explains the colour of the sky, radar echoes and the imaging of small particles, and its inverse problems underlie many imaging methods.