The intrinsic optical response of a scattering object is known to be modified when it is placed on a substrate. Moreover, the total extinction through ohmic losses and Rayleigh scattering is basically dependent on the reversal of the direction of the excitation wave. Considering, as stated by the generalized optical theorem, that the total extinction of the incident wave is shared among the extinction of the waves transmitted and reflected by the non-absorbing substrate, we show that only the contribution of the transmitted wave is insensitive to the direction of illumination, by analogy with the textbook case of transmission through a planar stratified medium. This property was recently confirmed experimentally [J. Phys. Chem. C 123, 15217 (2019)] and is established here on theoretical grounds in the frameworks of the Green's function integral equation method and the Lorentz reciprocity theorem. Some of its limitations with regard to the incidence and the polarization of the excitation wave are also discussed in detail.

• Received 22 June 2020
• Accepted 27 August 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.033521