Point matching method

In this method the fields outside and inside a particle are represented by expansions in term of proper basis functions (practically always the vector spherical harmonics). Since the particle surface does not coincide with the coordinate surface, it is impossible to satisfy the boundary conditions exactly, and the expansions are limited by a finite number of terms, and the boundary conditions are considered in a finite set of points (matching points). From the derived system of equations one finds the expansion coefficients. The first results for scalar scattering by a spheroid were obtained in [234], but a generalization for the electromagnetic case appeared only in 1973-1974 [373,374,382,385]. A review of evolution and applications of this method can be found in [100,148]. A similar version of the projected(?) Galerkin method was developed in [8] (the corresponding papers are also mentioned in [100]). Now the point matching method is nearly totally displaced by more efficient algorithms.
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Created by V.I.
Last modified: 12/08/03, V.I.