On the optical theorem and optimal extinction, scattering and absorption in lossy media.

This paper reformulates and extends some recent analytical results concerning a new optical theorem and the associated physical bounds on absorption in lossy media. The analysis is valid for any linear scatterer (such as an antenna), consisting of arbitrary materials (bianisotropic, etc.) and arbitrary geometries, as long as the scatterer is circumscribed by a spherical volume embedded in a lossy background medium. The corresponding formulas are here reformulated and extended to encompass magnetic as well as dielectric background media. Explicit derivations, formulas and discussions are also given for the corresponding bounds on scattering and extinction. A numerical example concerning the optimal microwave absorption and scattering in atmospheric oxygen in the 60 GHz communication band is included to illustrate the theory.