Low-coherence light-scattering calculations for polydisperse size distributions

The calculation of angular light-scattering distributions is considered for low-coherence light incident on a polydisperse particle size distribution of scatterers. As low-coherence light is now commonly used in interferometry schemes when applied to biomedical imaging, the difference between detecting scattered intensity and interferometrically detecting the scattered field is examined. An expression is derived that allows the presence of multiple wavelengths lambda and particle sizes d to be described by a single distribution in the size parameter x = pi d/lambda, which simplifies numerical calculations. The applicability of this expression is examined numerically.