Question 04/02

SCATTERING DIPOLES

A system consists of two ideal dipoles placed at positions (0,0,0) and (0,0,a). Dipole moment p of each dipole is related to electric field E on that dipole via relation p=gE. (g is so small that you can neglect the interaction between the dipoles, i.e. electric field created by one dipole at the position of the other dipole is negligible.) An incoming electromagnetic wave of wavelength L=2a is scattered by the system. Consider two cases: (a) the incoming wave is in x-direction, and (b) the incoming wave is in z-direction. Estimate the ratio between the total scattering cross sections between those two cases. (You may neglect dimensionless prefactors of order unity.)

This problem was given at an exam by Y. Kantor

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