Resonant absorption of light by a two-dimensional imperfect lattice of spherical particles

Abstract

The light absorption and scattering by an infinite two-dimensional array with an imperfect lattice of identical spherical particles is considered based on the statistical approach to a description of electromagnetic wave interaction with particulate media. Absorption resonances due to the coherent component of scattered light (zeroth order of diffraction) and resonances arising from the excitation of a flux of incoherently scattered light (higher diffraction orders) propagating at grazing angles to the array plane are studied. The dependence of absorption on the degree of positional ordering of particles is considered. It is shown that with an increase in ordering, the spatial coherence of the light flux along the array plane increases and the absorption resonance becomes more pronounced. Data are presented for silver wavelength-sized particles for s - and p -polarized incident waves. It is shown that at small angles of incidence, the first diffraction order can arise at the wavelength of zeroth-order resonance. In this case, the contributions to absorption created by the coherent and incoherent components of scattered light are summed up. The value of the absorption coefficient can be close to 0.95. A comparison with data for a partially ordered array is carried out.