Multiple-Scattering Phenomena in the Scattering of Light from Randomly Rough Surfaces

Abstract

The incorporation of multiple scattering into theories of rough surface scattering has led to the prediction of a number of new effects, many of which have now been verified experimentally. Several of these new multiple‐scattering effects will be described in this paper, in particular the presence of satellite peaks in the angular dependence of light scattered from, or transmitted through, films whose illuminated surface is randomly rough; new features in the angular intensity correlation functions of light scattered from randomly rough metal surfaces, and surfaces that scatter light uniformly within a specified range of scattering angles, and produce no scattering outside this range. In addition, some suggestions for directions that research in the area of rough surface scattering could take in the next few years will be presented.