分野別セミナー

The paradox of the divergence of the resonant scattering cross section of a cylinder with the permittivity equals minus unity and vanishing radius (R) irradiated by a monochromatic electromagnetic wave is discussed. Within the framework of the exact solution of the Maxwell equations, the divergence at the specified conditions is caused by the overlap of all but one multipolar resonances. It is shown that the origin of the paradox is in the essential singularity of the cross section as a function of the permittivity and R at the given point. To resolve the paradox one must generalize the problem formulation, taking into account a final linewidth of the incident wave, and then perform the correct sequence of limit transitions. The application of this approach gives rise to the vanishing cross section at the vanishing R. It ruins the expectations to employ such a cylinder as a superscatterer but simultaneously open a door to counterintuitive effects both in far and near field zones related to unusual size dependences of the scattered fields at small but finite R.