Understanding light scattering by a coated sphere part 2: time domain analysis.

Numerical computations were made of scattering of an incident electromagnetic pulse by a coated sphere that is large compared to the dominant wavelength of the incident light. The scattered intensity was plotted as a function of the scattering angle and delay time of the scattered pulse. For fixed core and coating radii, the Debye series terms that most strongly contribute to the scattered intensity in different regions of scattering angle-delay time space were identified and analyzed. For a fixed overall radius and an increasing core radius, the first-order rainbow was observed to evolve into three separate components. The original component faded away, while the two new components eventually merged together. The behavior of surface waves generated by grazing incidence at the core/coating and coating/exterior interfaces was also examined and discussed.