Abstract

The scattered intensity from large spheres with a real part of the refractive index of $n = 1.33,1.5,2.0$ is investigated as the radius $R$ and an imaginary part of the refractive index $\kappa$ are varied. It is shown that the product of $\kappa$ and the size parameter $kR$, $\kappa \textit{kR}$, is a universal parameter describing the quenching of the refraction phenomenon of the scattered light: the refraction hump, the generalized rainbows, and the glory. The physical reason for this is that $\kappa \textit{kR}$ is the inverse of the relative skin depth of light penetration into the sphere, which is demonstrated by calculations of the internal fields that darken universally as $\kappa \textit{kR}$ increases.

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