Electromagnetic Scattering by Bianisotropic Spheres

Abstract

Electromagnetic fields in bulk bianisotropic media contain plane waves whose k-vectors can be found using the method of the index of refraction’s operator and belong to the Fresnel wave surfaces that fall into one of the five hyperbolic classes of the Durach et al. taxonomy of bianisotropic media. Linear combinations of vector spherical harmonics can be used as a set of solutions of vector Helmholtz equations in gyrotropic media to develop Mie’s theory of scattering by anisotropic spheres as accomplished by Lin et al. and Li et al. In this study, we introduced electromagnetic orbitals for bianisotropic media as linear combinations of vector spherical harmonics, which represent solutions of Maxwell’s equations in bianisotropic media. Using these bianisotropic orbitals, we developed a theory of the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by bianisotropic spheres with arbitrary effective material parameters and sizes. As a by-product, we obtained a simple expression for the expansion of a vector plane wave over vector spherical harmonics in a more compact form than the frequently used by Sarkar et al. We obtained the polarizability expressions in the Rayleigh limit in agreement with the results of the electrostatic approximation of Lakhtahia and Sihvola.