Mie Scattering by a Charged Dielectric Particle

Abstract

We study for a dielectric particle the effect of surplus electrons on the anomalous scattering of light arising from the transverse optical phonon resonance in the particle's dielectric function. Excess electrons affect the polarizability of the particle by their phonon-limited conductivity, either in a surface layer (negative electron affinity) or the conduction band (positive electron affinity). We show that surplus electrons shift an extinction resonance in the infrared. This offers an optical way to measure the charge of the particle and to use it in a plasma as a minimally invasive electric probe.