Matrix Methods for Multiple-Scattering Problems

Abstract If the radiation field is approximated by a discrete distribution at points or latitude circles on the unit sphere, matrix relationships can be written between incident and reflected or transmitted radiation fields. The reflection and transmission matrices thus defined are shown to satisfy algebraic equations which can be used to compute the properties of thick layers by building up the thick layers from thinner sublayers, the starting point being a layer so thin that it is effectively a single scattering layer only.