In most contexts in which I've come across Mie theory so far, authors do not even mention inelastic scattering but just seem to imply that all scattering is elastic. The only exception I've found is Bohren and Huffman who say
We restrict our treatment to elastic scattering: the frequency of the scattered light is the same as that of the incident light.
in their introductory chapter and later, when they compare classical and quantum mechanical concepts:
It is also possible for a photon to interact in a solid by exciting a phonon of lesser energy, the energy difference being carried off by another photon; such processes, called inelastic, include Raman and Brillouin scattering and are beyond the scope of this book.
That is better than not mentioning inelastic scattering at all, but I'm still a bit confused.
Mie theory is based on classical electrodynamics. It seems to me, however, that inelastic scattering requires a quantum mechanical treatment, since I think of it exactly as described in the above quote, i.e. as the absorption of an incident photon and prompt emission of a secondary photon. I.e. Mie theory, or any classical theory for that matter, should be incapable of describing inelastic scattering.
- Is this correct?
Elastic scattering must be strongly dominant in many phenomena involving small particles, since Mie theory is quite successfully used in a number of areas.
- Is there an intuitive way to understand why elastic scattering is dominant?
- Can you think of examples where it is not dominant?
I hope I was able to provide clear questions despite my confusion.