Reconstruction of particle-size distributions from light-scattering patterns using three inversion methods

By means of a numerical study we show particle-size distributions retrieved with the Chin-Shifrin, Phillips-Twomey, and singular value decomposition methods. Synthesized intensity data are generated using Mie theory, corresponding to unimodal normal, gamma, and lognormal distributions of spherical particles, covering the size parameter range from 1 to 250. Our results show the advantages and disadvantages of each method, as well as the range of applicability for the Fraunhofer approximation as compared to rigorous Mie theory.