Scattering of narrow stationary beams and short pulses on spheres

A reliable description of beam scattering is required in issues like image reconstruction or computerized tomographic imaging. A finite-width Gaussian-like beam scattered by a hard and dielectric sphere is shown to be well approximated by a superposition of plane waves, intersecting at small angles and scattered by the sphere. Thus in the presented model, the scattering results are described globally by simple analytical formulas. Furthermore, the scattering of short pulses composed of discrete frequency waves on a hard or dielectric sphere is described. This extends the Lorentz-Mie theory for scattering of plane waves. (author)