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Rayleigh and Mie Scattering

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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

Synonyms

Elastic light scattering; Elastic scattering; Lorenz-Mie theory; Lorenz-Mie-Debye theory; Mie solution; Mie theory

Definitions

Rayleigh scattering refers primarily to the elastic scattering of light from atomic and molecular particles whose diameter is less than about one-tenth the wavelength of the incident light.

Rayleigh line refers to the unshifted central peak observed in the spectroscopic analysis of scattered light.

Mie scattering refers primarily to the elastic scattering of light from atomic and molecular particles whose diameter is larger than about the wavelength of the incident light.

Thomson scattering is elastic scattering of light from free electrons.

Raman scattering is inelastic scattering of light from objects whereby the scattered photon has a lower (Raman Stokes scattering) or higher (Raman anti-Stokes scattering) energy than the incident photon.

Introduction

From ancient times, people have gazed up at the sky in daylight and asked the perennial question...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metrology Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    David J. Lockwood

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  1. David J. Lockwood
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Correspondence to David J. Lockwood .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Color Science & Imaging Lab, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Renzo Shamey

Section Editor information

  1. National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Joanne Zwinkels

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Lockwood, D.J. (2019). Rayleigh and Mie Scattering. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_218-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_218-3

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Rayleigh and Mie Scattering
    Published:
    13 August 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_218-3

  2. Rayleigh and Mie Scattering
    Published:
    04 February 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_218-2

  3. Original

    Rayleigh and Mie Scattering
    Published:
    18 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_218-1

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