RAY SCATTERING BY AN ARBITRARILY ORIENTED SPHEROID .2. TRANSMISSION AND CROSS-POLARIZATION EFFECTS

Transmission of an arbitrarily polarized plane wave by an arbitrarily oriented spheroid in the short-wavelength limit is considered in the c ontext of ray theory. The transmitted electric field is added to the d iffracted plus reflected ray-theory electric field that was previously derived to obtain an approximation to the far-zone scattered intensit y in the forward hemisphere. Two different types of cross-polarization effects are found. These are (a) a rotation of the polarization state of the transmitted rays from when they are referenced with respect to their entrance into the spheroid to when they are referenced with res pect to their exit from it and (b) a rotation of the polarization stat e of the transmitted rays when they are referenced with respect to the polarization state of the diffracted plus reflected rays. (C) 1996 Op tical Society of America