Light Scattering by Nonspherical Particles: A Laboratory Study

The concept of dividing the light scattered by nonspherical particles into three components—diffracted, refracted and reflected—is discussed here, using a set of measured phase functions, for the case of monodisperse aerosol particles. A logical scheme is developed that allows a simple representation of the light scattering properties of classes of nonspherical particles in a region where geometric optics is not expected to be valid. In the limits of this analysis, it appears that the equations developed can be applied to larger varieties of problems where there is a need to infer the optical properties of nonspherical particles.