MieLab: A Software Tool to Perform Calculations on the Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves by Multilayered Spheres

Abstract

In this paper, we present MieLab, a free computational package for simulating the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by multilayered spheres or an ensemble of particles with normal size distribution. It has been designed as a virtual laboratory, including a friendly graphical user interface (GUI), an optimization algorithm (to fit the simulations to experimental results) and scripting capabilities. The paper is structured in five different sections: the introduction is a perspective on the importance of the software for the study of scattering of light scattering. In the second section, various approaches used for modeling the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by small particles are discussed. The third and fourth sections are devoted to provide an overview of MieLab and to describe the main features of its architectural model and functional behavior, respectively. Finally, several examples are provided to illustrate the main characteristics of the software.