title: Observation of the enhanced backscattering of light by the end of a tilted dielectric cylinder owing to the caustic merging transition.
abstract: The scattering of light by obliquely illuminated circular dielectric cylinders was previously demonstrated to be enhanced by a merger of Airy caustics at a critical tilt angle. [Appl. Opt. 37, 1534 (1998)]. A related enhancement is demonstrated here for backward and near-backward scattering for cylinders cut with a flat end perpendicular to the cylinder's axis. It is expected that merged caustics will enhance the backscattering by clouds of randomly oriented circular cylinders that have appropriately flat ends.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA. marston@wsu.edu
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Marston
authors.forename: Yibing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Thiessen