Excitation Efficiency of a Morphology-Dependent Resonance by a Focused Gaussian Beam

The excitation efficiency of a morphology-dependent resonance (MDR) by an incident beam is defined as the fraction of the beam power channeled into the MDR. The efficiency is calculated for a focused Gaussian beam of arbitrary width incident on either a spherical particle or a cylindrical fiber located at an arbitrary position in the plane of the beam waist. In each case a simple formula for the efficiency is derived by use of the localized approximation for the beam-shape coefficients in the partial-wave expansion of the beam. The physical interpretation of the efficiency formulas is also discussed. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America [S0740-3232(98)01512-9]