An equivalent solution for the electromagnetic scattering of multilayer particle

•We found a new method to discuss the scattering of a multilayer particle by electromagnetic wave.•We established the equivalent dielectric constant of the multilayer particle.•We discussed the applicability of this new method.

This paper reports on a new solution to the scattering properties of a small multilayer particle. The procedure is based on a prescription which uses the equivalent dielectric constant to represent the integrated permittivity of the multilayer particle, and then directly get the particle's scattering properties with the classical Mie code. By means of comparisons of the proposed method and the multilayer Mie solutions, it is evident that the model presented in this paper is accurate and more simple.