Optical extinction, refractive index, and multiple scattering for suspensions of interacting colloidal particles

We provide a general microscopic theory of the scattering cross-section and of the refractive index for a system of interacting colloidal particles, exact at second order in the molecular polarizabilities. In particular: (a) we show that the structural features of the suspension are encoded into the forward scattered field by multiple scattering effects, whose contribution is essential for the so-called “optical theorem” to hold in the presence of interactions; (b) we investigate the role of radiation reaction on light extinction; (c) we discuss our results in the framework of effective medium theories, presenting a general result for the effective refractive index valid, whatever the structural properties of the suspension, in the limit of particles much larger than the wavelength; (d) by discussing strongly interacting suspensions, we unravel subtle anomalous dispersion effects for the suspension refractive index.