Method for Calculating the Optical Properties of Composites Based on a Transparent Matrix with Residual Porosity and Metal Nanoparticles

Abstract

A method is proposed for calculating the optical characteristics of composites based on a transparent matrix with residual porosity and metal nanoparticles by solving the transport equation for monochromatic radiation employing a spherical harmonic method and Fresnel boundary conditions. The method is tested by modeling the transport of monochromatic radiation at four wavelengths of practical importance in cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine–aluminum nanoparticle composites with a Rayleigh distribution of pores with respect to radius. It is shown that in the case of small-radius pores the reflectivity increases as the mass fraction of nanoparticles is increased. In the case of pores with large radii, a kink corresponding to complete filling of the pores appears on the dependence of the transmission on the nanoparticle mass fraction. The application of these results to inverse problems in the spectroscopy of lightscattering system is discussed.