Symmetry in a Spherical-Particle Light Scattering and a Phase Shift Induced by a Particle Translation

Abstract

Diffraction of a linearly polarized plane wave and two counterpropagating orthogonally polarized plane waves by a spherical particle is considered. The influence of the particle translation on the far-field complex amplitude of the scattered wave is discussed. The possibility is shown to select symmetric directions of observation, in which the phase shift of a scattered wave depends the only on particle coordinate. All conclusions are generic as based on a symmetry only. The results can be useful for a new direct-measurement particle position detector engineering with high sensitivity and speed of response.