Light-Scattering Characteristics of Optical Surfaces
Abstract
An investigation of the relationship between surface microstructure and radiant energy scattering has been conducted. Light scattering from optical surfaces is treated as a diffraction process in which the pupil function has random phase variations in addition to any existing amplitude variations. A new theory of surface scatter phenomena has been formulated by utilizing the same Fourier techniques that have proven so successful in the area of image formation. An analytical expression has been obtained for a surface transfer function which relates the surface micro-roughness to the scattered distribution of radiation from that surface. The existence of such a transfer function implies a shift-invariant scattering function which does not change shape with the angle of the incident beam. This result greatly reduces the quantity of data required to completely characterize the scattering properties of a surface. For a large class of well-behaved surfaces this transfer function is described in terms of only the rms surface roughness and the surface autocovariance function. It thus provides a straightforward solution to the inverse scattering problem (i.e., determining surface characteristics from scattered light measurements). Once the surface charcteristics are known, the same theory provides an equally simple method of predicting the wavelength dependence of the scattered light distribution. An extensive experimental program has accompanied this theoretical development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA095132
Entities
People
- J. E. Harvey
- Jean M. Bennett
- R. V. Shack
Organizations
- University of Arizona