[en] The method of local optics can be used for calculating absorption and scattering of light by a small particle or a thin film. One writes D(r,ω) = epsilon (ω)E(r,ω), and solves Maxwell's equations using standard boundary conditions. A more exact approach is to use a nonlocal dielectric constant epsilon (r-r',ω), which is the same as that of the bulk material, in the expression: D(r,ω) = ∫ epsilon (r-r',ω)E(r',ω)d³r'. In such a theory one disregards the modification of the dielectric constant near the surface, and the surface is taken into account approximately by introducing appropriate additional boundary conditions. A still more microscopic or exact method, applicable to a metal, is to write the equation using a dielectric constant epsilon (r,r',ω) which depends on r and r' separately. This dielectric tensor contains information about the modified response near the surface, and includes effects of surface states. Another method, applicable to infrared properties on ionic crystals, relates the optical properties to the normal mode eigenvectors and eigenvalues