Unveiling the scattering behavior of small spheres

A classical way for exploring the scattering behavior of a small sphere is to approximate Mie coefficients with a Taylor series expansion. This ansatz delivered a plethora of insightful results, mostly for small spheres supporting electric localized plasmonic resonances. However, many scattering aspects are still uncharted, especially with regards to magnetic resonances. Here, an alternative system ansatz is proposed based on the Padé approximants for the Mie coefficients. The results reveal the existence of a self-regulating radiative damping mechanism for the first magnetic resonance and general resonating aspects for the higher order multipoles. Hence, a systematic way of exploring the scattering response is introduced, sharpening our understanding of the sphere's scattering behavior and its emergent functionalities.