Printed in Great Britain PII: S0022-4073(98)00016-8 0022Ð4073/98 $19.00#0.00 COMPARISON OF COMPUTATIONAL SCATTERING METHODS

AbstractÐThere are various methods to compute electromagnetic scattering by arbitrarily shaped particles. The aim of this article is merely to give a short introduction to three very di¤erent types of methods and have a look at the applicabilities and shortcomings of each. At Þrst some comments are made. f to the Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA), alias Coupled Dipole Method (CDM), as a special form of the Volume Integral Equation Method (VIE); f to the Finite Di¤erence Time Domain (FDTD) and f to the Extended Boundary Condition Method (EBCM). As an example the results and the parameters of di¤erent codes for a cube are compared to give just a hint of the computational demands. ( 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.