Scattering by a slab containing randomly located cylinders: comparison between radiative transfer and electromagnetic simulation

This study is devoted to the examination of scattering of waves by a slab c ontaining randomly located cylinders. For the first time to our knowledge, the complete transmission problem has been solved numerically. We have comp ared the radiative transfer theory with a numerical solution of the wave eq uation. me discuss the coherent effects, such as forward-scattering dip and backscattering enhancement. It is seen that the radiative transfer equatio n can be used with great accuracy even for optically thin systems whose geo metric thickness is comparable with the wavelength. We have also shown the presence of dependent scattering. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America. OCIS codes: 030.5620, 030.5630, 210.3820, 320.7100, 320.5540, 290.0290.