Single-particle evanescent light scattering simulations for total internal reflection microscopy

Abstract

We simulate and measure light scattering of a micrometer-sized spherical particle suspended in solution close to a glass substrate. The model, based on the discrete sources method, is developed to describe the experimental situation of total internal reflection microscopy experiments; i.e., the particle is illuminated by an evanescent light field originating from the glass–solvent interface. In contrast to the well-established assumption of a simple exponential decay of the scattering intensity with distance, we demonstrate significant deviations for a certain range of penetration depths and polarization states of the incident light.