DEPOLARIZATION OF MULTIPLY SCATTERED WAVES BY SPHERICAL DIFFUSERS - INFLUENCE OF THE SIZE PARAMETER

We study numerically, using the Mie theory, light transmission through a multiply scattering medium composed of a collection of uncorrelated , optically inactive spherical particles. The characteristic length ov er which a plane-wave field is depolarized depends on whether it is in itially linearly or circularly polarized and on the size of the partic les. In a medium containing particles small compared to the wavelength (Rayleigh regime), the characteristic length of depolarization for in cident linearly polarized light is found to exceed that for incident c ircularly polarized light, while the opposite is true in a medium comp osed of particles large compared to the wavelength (Mie regime). A com parison of numerical results with the data from measurements on suspen sions of polystyrene latex spheres in water is made. Agreement between these simulations and experiment is good for the range of sizes consi dered in this paper. We also discuss the relevance of the helicity-fli p model to the analysis of these data.