Form Factor of the Oriented Pyramidal Ice Crystals in the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin Approximation

Abstract

In this work, the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation is applied to determine an analytical expression of the form factor of oriented pyramidal ice crystals. This study will focus on two special cases of the normal incident of light: flat incidence and edge-on incidence. This form factor is calculated using an adequate decomposition of the pyramid. Furthermore, the analytical expression of the extinction coefficient is derived for these two special cases. Finally, some numerical examples are analyzed to illustrate our results.

Keywords: Light scattering, Form factor, Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation, Pyramidal ice crystals, Extinction efficiency.

PACS: 41.20.-q; 41.85.-p.