UC Irvine

By numerical simulations we study the scattering of s-polarized light from a rough dielectric film deposited on the planar surface of a semi-infinite perfect conductor. The dielectric film is allowed to be either active or passive, situations that we model by assigning negative and positive values, respectively, to the imaginary part (formula presented) of the dielectric constant of the film. We study the reflectance (formula presented) and the total scattered energy (formula presented) for the system as functions of both (formula presented) and the angle of incidence of the light. Furthermore, the positions and widths of the enhanced backscattering and satellite peaks are discussed. It is found that these peaks become narrower and higher when the amplification of the system is increased, and that their widths are linear functions of (formula presented) The positions of the backscattering peaks are found to be independent of (formula presented) while we find a weak dependence on this quantity in the positions of the satellite peaks. © 2001 The American Physical Society.