CONSTRUCTION AND EVALUATION OF A MODEL FOR PREDICTING OPTICAL SCATTERING FROM ROUGH METALLIC SURFACES

RESEARCH INTO ESTABLISHING THE FEASIBILITY OF FORMULATING A NEW THEORY TO PREDICT THE ANGULAR DEPENDENCE OF SCATTERING FROM SURFACES WHICH ARE ROUGH COMPARED TO THE WAVELENGTH OF INCIDENT LIGHT IS PROPOSED. THE RESEARCH WOULD INCLUDE IDENTIFYING ANOMALIES OBSERVED IN SCATTERING FROM METALLIC SURFACES. THE EFFECTS OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS PARAMETERS SUCH AS THE RMS SLOPES, RMS ROUGHNESS, AUTOCOVARIANCE FUNCTION, AS WELL AS THE INHERENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MATERIAL, SUCH AS THE CONTRIBUTION OF POLARITONS AND PLASMONS ON SCATTERING WILL ALSO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. THE PRESENT THEORIES ARE NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE MEASURED DATA FOR SOME CASES. THE NEW THEORY WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF PREDICTING THE BIDIRECTIONAL REFLECTANCE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION (BRDF) OF THE MATERIALS, EXPLAIN EXISTING ANOMALIES, AND RESOLVE THE DISCREPANCIES WHICH EXIST IN PRESENT THEORIES.