Despite its ubiquity in human perception and technology, conventional physical models of light scattering are surprisingly primitive, often neglecting the fundamental wave nature of light. Applications including biomedical imaging and diagnosis, computer-graphic design, laser radar, and machine vision benefit from physical models of light scattering that account for wave effects.

From its early applications to radiation sources, coherence theory is currently being extended to the description of light scattering, providing more accurate predictions and discoveries of effects beyond the assumptions of conventional models.

Coherence Versus Radiance Formulations of Surface Scattering, originally published in Polarization Science and Remote Sensing III, Proceedings of the SPIE, vol. 6682, 66820H-1-9, Sept 2007.

Abstract:
Surface scattering can be formulated in terms of coherence functions averaged over surface realizations. The resulting integrals for the average scattered intensity are superficially similar to those derived in conventional formulations like the Kirchhoff, Beckmann, and physical-optics models, but the coherence function is subject to some essential conditions, which are extensions of previously-derived conditions on the radiometric parameters of primary, partially-coherent sources and their propagated fields, that significantly influence the resulting scattered-intensity or BRDF solutions. The field approximation that leads to conventional radiance-like models is compared to a field approximation that leads to a particular coherence model of surface scattering, which is reviewed and verified against radiometric and atomic-force microscope (AFM) data due to a standard diffuse-gold reflector, representing apparently the first verified inverse reflectance solution for a non-contrived diffuse rough surface.

Coherence Solution for Bidirectional Reflectance Distributions of Surfaces with Wavelength-Scale Statistics, originally published in Journal of the Optical Society of America A, vol.23, pp. 314-328, February 2006.

Abstract:
The scalar bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) due to a perfectly-conducting surface with roughness and autocorrelation width comparable to the illumination wavelength is derived from coherence theory on the assumption of a random reflective phase screen and an expansion valid for large effective roughness. A general quadratic expansion of the two-dimensional isotropic surface autocorrelation function near the origin yields representative Cauchy and Gaussian BRDF solutions and an intermediate general solution as the sum of an incoherent component and a non-specular coherent component proportional to an integral of the plasma dispersion function in the complex plane. Plots illustrate agreement of the derived general solution with original bistatic BRDF data due to a machined aluminum surface, and comparisons are drawn with previously-published data in the examination of variations with incident angle, roughness, illumination wavelength, and autocorrelation coefficients in the bistatic and monostatic geometries. The general quadratic autocorrelation expansion provides a BRDF solution that smoothly interpolates between the well-known results of the linear and parabolic approximations.

Correlations among Angular Wave Component Amplitudes in Elastic Multiple-Scattering Random Media, originally published in Physical Review E, vol.65, 026614, February 2002.

Abstract:
The propagation of scalar waves through random media that provide multiple elastic scattering is considered by derivation of an expression for the angular correlation of the scattered wave amplitudes. Coherent wave transmission is shown to occur through a mechanism similar to that responsible for coherent backscattering. While the properties of the scattered wave are generally consistent with radiative-transfer theory for sufficiently small incident and scattering angles, coherent transmission provides corrections to radiative-transfer results at larger angles. The theoretical angular correlation curves are fit, by specifying the probability densities of two random variables that correspond to material parameters, to measured data of laser light scattering from various polymer microsphere suspensions.