Lock James A
Physics Department, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, USA.
J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2011 Dec 1;28(12):2577-87. doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.28.002577.
Various properties of an electromagnetic wave whose spherical multipole expansion contains only Riccati-Neumann functions are examined. In particular, the novel behavior of the beam phase during diffractive spreading is discussed. When a Neumann beam is scattered by a spherical particle, the diffraction and external reflection portions of the scattering amplitude constructively interfere for large partial waves. As a result, a set of rapidly decreasing beam shape coefficients is required to cut off the partial wave sum in the scattering amplitudes. Because of its strong singularity at the origin, a Neumann beam can be produced by a point source of radiation at the center of a spherical cavity in a high conductivity metal, and Neumann beam scattering by a spherical particle can occur for certain partial waves if the sphere is placed at the center of the cavity as well.
