Rayleigh scattering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Rayleigh scattering
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rayleigh scattering (pronounced /reli/ RAY-lee), named after the

British physicist Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt),[1] is the
(dominantly) elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation
by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. Rayleigh
scattering does not change the state of material, hence it is a parametric
process. The particles may be individual atoms or molecules. It can
occur when light travels through transparent solids and liquids, but is
most prominently seen in gases. Rayleigh scattering results from the
electric polarizability of the particles. The oscillating electric field of a
light wave acts on the charges within a particle, causing them to move at
the same frequency. The particle therefore becomes a small radiating
dipole whose radiation we see as scattered light.

Rayleigh scattering causes the blue

hue of the daytime sky and the
reddening of the sun at sunset.

Rayleigh scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere causes diffuse sky radiation, which is the reason for the blue
color of the sky and the yellow tone of the sun itself.
Rayleigh scattering of molecular nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere includes elastic scattering as well as
the inelastic contribution from rotational Raman scattering in air, since the changes in wavenumber of the
scattered photon are typically smaller than 50 cm1.[2] This can lead to changes in the rotational state of the
molecules. Furthermore, the inelastic contribution has the same wavelengths dependency as the elastic part.
Scattering by particles similar to, or larger than, the wavelength of light is typically treated by the Mie theory,
the discrete dipole approximation and other computational techniques. Rayleigh scattering applies to particles
that are small with respect to wavelengths of light, and that are optically "soft" (i.e. with a refractive index close
to 1). On the other hand, Anomalous Diffraction Theory applies to optically soft but larger particles.

Contents
1 Small size parameter approximation
2 From molecules
3 Reason for the blue color of the sky
4 In optical fibers
5 In porous materials

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6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

Small size parameter approximation

The size of a scattering particle is often parameterized by the ratio
,
where r is its characteristic length (radius) and is the wavelength of the light. The amplitude of light scattered
from within any transparent dielectric is proportional to the inverse square of its wavelength and to the volume
of material, that is to the cube of its characteristic length. The wavelength dependence is characteristic of dipole
scattering[3] and the volume dependence will apply to any scattering mechanism. Objects with x 1 act as
geometric shapes, scattering light according to their projected area. At the intermediate x 1 of Mie scattering,
interference effects develop through phase variations over the object's surface. Rayleigh scattering applies to the
case when the scattering particle is very small (x 1, with a particle size < 1 /10 wavelength[4]) and the whole
surface re-radiates with the same phase. Because the particles are randomly positioned, the scattered light
arrives at a particular point with a random collection of phases; it is incoherent and the resulting intensity is just
the sum of the squares of the amplitudes from each particle and therefore proportional to the inverse fourth
power of the wavelength and the sixth power of its size.[3][5] In detail, the intensity I of light scattered by any
one of the small spheres of diameter d and refractive index n from a beam of unpolarized light of wavelength
and intensity I0 is given by
,[6]
where R is the distance to the particle and is the scattering angle. Averaging this over all angles gives the
Rayleigh scattering cross-section [7]
.[8]
The fraction of light scattered by a group of scattering particles is the number of particles per unit volume N
times the cross-section. For example, the major constituent of the atmosphere, nitrogen, has a Rayleigh cross
section of 5.1 1031 m2 at a wavelength of 532 nm (green light).[9] This means that at atmospheric pressure,
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where there are about 2 1025 molecules per cubic meter, about a fraction 105 of the light will be scattered for
every meter of travel.
The strong wavelength dependence of the scattering (~4) means that shorter (blue) wavelengths are scattered
more strongly than longer (red) wavelengths.

From molecules
The expression above can also be written in terms of individual
molecules by expressing the dependence on refractive index in
terms of the molecular polarizability , proportional to the dipole
moment induced by the electric field of the light. In this case, the
Rayleigh scattering intensity for a single particle is given in CGSunits by[10]

Reason for the blue color of the sky

The strong wavelength dependence of the scattering (~4) means
that shorter (blue) wavelengths are scattered more strongly than
longer (red) wavelengths. This results in the indirect blue light
coming from all regions of the sky. Rayleigh scattering is a good
approximation of the manner in which light scattering occurs within
various media for which scattering particles have a small size parameter.

Figure showing the greater proportion of

blue light scattered by the atmosphere
relative to red light.

A portion of the beam of light coming from the sun scatters off
Scattered blue light is polarized. The
molecules of gas and other small particles in the atmosphere. Here,
picture on the right is shot through a
Rayleigh scattering primarily occurs through sunlight's interaction with
polarizing filter: the polarizer
randomly located air molecules. It is this scattered light that gives the
transmits light that is linearly
surrounding sky its brightness and its color. As previously stated,
polarized in a specific direction.
Rayleigh scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of
wavelength, so that shorter wavelength violet and blue light will scatter
more than the longer wavelengths (yellow and especially red light). However, the Sun, like any star, has its own
spectrum and so I0 in the scattering formula above is not constant but falls away in the violet. In addition the
oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere absorbs wavelengths at the edge of the ultra-violet region of the spectrum. The
resulting color, which appears like a pale blue, actually is a mixture of all the scattered colors, mainly blue and
green. Conversely, glancing toward the sun, the colors that were not scattered away the longer wavelengths
such as red and yellow light are directly visible, giving the sun itself a slightly yellowish hue. Viewed from
space, however, the sky is black and the sun is white.

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The reddening of sunlight is intensified when the sun is near the horizon, because the density of air and particles
near the earth's surface through which sunlight must pass is significantly greater than when the sun is high in the
sky. The Rayleigh scattering effect is thus increased, removing virtually all blue light from the direct path to the
observer. The remaining unscattered light is mostly of a longer wavelength, and therefore appears to be orange.
Some of the scattering can also be from sulfate particles. For years after large Plinian eruptions, the blue cast of
the sky is notably brightened by the persistent sulfate load of the stratospheric gases. Some works of the artist J.
M. W. Turner may owe their vivid red colours to the eruption of Mount Tambora in his lifetime.
In locations with little light pollution, the moonlit night sky is also blue, because moonlight is reflected sunlight,
with a slightly lower color temperature due to the brownish color of the moon. The moonlit sky is not perceived
as blue, however, because at low light levels human vision comes mainly from rod cells that do not produce any
color perception (Purkinje effect).

In optical fibers
Rayleigh scattering is an important component of the scattering of optical signals in optical fibers. Silica fibers
are glasses, disordered materials with microscopic variations of density and refractive index. These give rise to
energy losses due to the scattered light, with the following coefficient:[11]

where n is the refraction index, p is the photoelastic coefficient of the glass, k is the Boltzmann constant, and
is the isothermal compressibility. Tf is a fictive temperature, representing the temperature at which the density
fluctuations are "frozen" in the material.

In porous materials
4 Rayleigh-type scattering can also be exhibited by porous materials.
An example is the strong optical scattering by nanoporous materials.[13]
The strong contrast in refractive index between pores and solid parts of
sintered alumina results in very strong scattering, with light completely
changing direction each 5 micrometers on average. The 4-type
scattering is caused by the nanoporous structure (a narrow pore size
distribution around ~70 nm) obtained by sintering monodispersive
alumina powder.

See also

Rayleigh scattering in opalescent

glass: it appears blue from the side,
but orange light shines through.[12]

Rayleigh sky model

Rayleigh fading
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Ricean fading
Raman scattering
Optical phenomenon
Dynamic light scattering
Tyndall effect
Critical opalescence
Marian Smoluchowski
Rayleigh Criterion
Aerial perspective
Parametric Process
Bragg's law

References
1. Lord Rayleigh (John Strutt) refined his theory of scattering in a series of papers that were issued over a period of
decades. Here is a partial list of those papers:
1. John Strutt (1871) "On the light from the sky, its polarization and colour," Philosophical Magazine, series 4,
vol.41, pages 107-120, 274-279.
2. John Strutt (1871) "On the scattering of light by small particles," Philosophical Magazine, series 4, vol. 41, pages
447-454.
3. John Strutt (1881) "On the electromagnetic theory of light," Philosophical Magazine, series 5, vol. 12, pages 81101.
4. John Strutt (1899) "On the transmission of light through an atmosphere containing small particles in suspension,
and on the origin of the blue of the sky," Philosophical Magazine, series 5, vol. 47, pages 375-394.
2. A. T. Young, "Rayleigh scattering," Appl. Opt. 20, 522535, 1981
3. "Cornell lectures" (PDF). Retrieved 2 April 2014.
4. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
5. Barnett, C.E. (1942). "Some application of wavelength turbidimetry in the infrared". J.Phys.Chem 46 (1): 6975.
doi:10.1021/j150415a009.
6. Seinfeld and Pandis, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey 2006, Chapter
15.1.1
7. Cox, A.J. (2002). "An experiment to measure Mie and Rayleigh total scattering cross sections". American Journal of
Physics 70: 620. Bibcode:2002AmJPh..70..620C. doi:10.1119/1.1466815.
8. Siegel, R., Howell, J.R., (2002). Thermal radiation heat transfer. p. 480. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
9. Sneep, Maarten; Ubachs, Wim (2005). "Direct measurement of the Rayleigh scattering cross section in various gases".
Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 92: 293. Bibcode:2005JQSRT..92..293S.
doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2004.07.025.
10. Rayleigh scattering at Hyperphysics (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html#c2)
11. K.Rajagopal, Textbook on Engineering Physics, PHI, New Delhi 2008, part I, Chapt. 3
12. Blue & red | Causes of Color (http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/14B.html)
13. T. Svensson & Z. Shen, "Laser spectroscopy of gas confined in nanoporous materials", Applied Physics Letters 96,
021107 (2010). [1] (http://link.aip.org/link/?APL/96/021107)
C.F. Bohren, D. Huffman, Absorption and scattering of light by small particles, John Wiley, New York 1983. Contains a
good description of the asymptotic behavior of Mie theory for small size parameter (Rayleigh approximation).
Ditchburn, R.W. (1963). Light (2nd ed.). London: Blackie & Sons. pp. 582585. ISBN 0-12-218101-8.
Chakraborti, Sayan (September 2007). "Verification of the Rayleigh scattering cross section". American Journal of
Physics 75 (9): 824826. arXiv:physics/0702101. Bibcode:2007AmJPh..75..824C. doi:10.1119/1.2752825.
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Ahrens, C. Donald (1994). Meteorology Today: an introduction to weather, climate, and the environment (5th ed.). St.
Paul MN: West Publishing Company. pp. 8889. ISBN 0-314-02779-3.

Further reading
Pedro Lilienfeld, "A Blue Sky History." (2004). Optics and Photonics News. Vol. 15, Issue 6, pp. 3239.
doi:10.1364/OPN.15.6.000032 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1364%2FOPN.15.6.000032). Gives a brief history
of theories of why the sky is blue leading up to Rayleigh's discovery, and a brief description of Rayleigh
scattering.

External links
HyperPhysics description of Rayleigh scattering (http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html#c2)
Full physical explanation of sky color, in simple terms
(http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rayleigh_scattering&oldid=695804333"
Categories: Scattering, absorption and radiative transfer (optics) Atmospheric optical phenomena Visibility
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