Influence of the optical axis distribution in the anisotropic layer surrounding a spherical particle on the scattering of light

The problem of light scattering from an anisotropic layer with a sphericall y symmetric distribution of the optical axis is solved exactly. The depende nce of the scattering efficiency on the particle size, the anisotropy param eter, and the layer thickness is studied numerically for various anisotropy types. It is shown that the scattering cross section is strongly affected by the type of anisotropy and that the presence of disclinations increases the scattering efficiency. As an additional effect specific to anisotropic scatterers, it is found that, in the case of configurations with broken cen tral symmetry, the scattering amplitudes contain a phase shift that scales logarithmically with the thickness of the anisotropic layer. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".