Scattering by a Thin Slab: Comparison Between Radiative Transfer and Electromagnetic Simulation

The paper is devoted to the study of scattering of waves by a slab containing randomly located cylinders. For the first time, the complete transmission problem has been solved numerically. We have compared the radiative transfer theory with a numerical solution of the wave equation. We discuss the coherent effects such as forward scattering dip and backscattering enhancement. It is seen that the radiative transfer equation can be used with great accuracy even for optically thick systems whose geometric thickness is comparable to the wavelength. We have also shown the presence of dependent scattering.