Permittivity of a randomly inhomogeneous medium

A theory of permittivity of suspension-type systems is developed that allows one to calculate such optical parameters of inhomogeneous systems as the length of scattering and the transport length. It is shown that, in the Born approximation, which takes into account two-particle correlations in the arrangement of scattering particles, the theoretical and experimental data are in agreement only to within tens of percent. The contribution of three-particle correlations to the permittivity of a system of solid spheres is determined. It is shown that, in describing the optical properties of suspensions with a large difference between the refractive indices of the medium and the particles, it does not suffice to replace the Rayleigh-Gans form factor by the Mie form factor, even under a restriction to two-particle correlations. (C) 2004 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".