T-MATRIX COMPUTATIONS OF LIGHT-SCATTERING BY NONSPHERICAL PARTICLES -A REVIEW

We review the current status of Waterman's T-matrix approach which is one of the most powerful and widely used tools for accurately computin g light scattering by nonspherical particles, both single and composit e, based on directly solving Maxwell's equations. Specifically, we dis cuss the analytical method for computing orientationally-averaged ligh t-scattering characteristics for ensembles of nonspherical particles, the methods for overcoming the numerical instability in calculating th e T matrix for single nonspherical particles with large size parameter s and/or extreme geometries, and the superposition approach for comput ing light scattering by composite/aggregated particles. Our discussion is accompanied by multiple numerical examples demonstrating the capab ilities of the T-matrix approach and showing effects of nonsphericity of simple convex particles (spheroids) on light scattering.