Huygens' principle may reveal Rayleigh scattering.

Rayleigh scattering is an elastic scattering. The scattering particles do not change the amplitude of the incident light wave, so they must affect the phase of the light wave. In this paper, the microscopic dielectric sphere is used as the scattering particle model to study the modulation of the phase of the light wave by the scattering particles. The paper analyzes the influence of micro-particles on the optical path, and obtains the phase of the light wave according to the wavelength of the incident light and the particle parameters. According to the Huygens principle, the light scattering of the particles is studied by diffraction method, and the scattered light intensity is proportional to the particle volume and inversely proportional to the fourth power of the light wavelength. In view of the uneven refractive index of the actual optical medium, this paper uses the graded index microsphere model for equivalent. The modulation of the phase of the light-wave by the graded-index particles and the influence on the optical path are studied. Finally, using the Huygens principle, the scattering properties of the refractive index inhomogeneous region are obtained. The work of this paper provides a new method for light scattering research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]