Polarization scattering characteristics of chaff cloud in outer space

Abstract

To meet the increasing need of modern ballistic missile countermeasure, it becomes more and more important to study chaff cloud's scattering characteristics in outer space more accurately. A coherent scattering model is presented to depict the polarization scattering process of chaff cloud in outer space instead of the traditional noncoherent model. Chaff cloud's polarization scattering matrix and RCS formulae are derived. These formulae reflect the fluctuation law of chaff cloud's RCS due to the variation of cloud's spatial distribution.