Abstract
We compute the scalar optical properties of size–shape distributions of wavelength-sized randomly oriented homogeneous particles with different nonaxially symmetric geometries and investigate how well they can be modeled with a simple spherical, spheroidal, or cylindrical particle model. We find that a spherical particle model can be used to determine the extinction and scattering cross sections, the single-scattering albedo, and the asymmetry parameter with an error of less than 2%, whereas the extinction-to-backscatter ratio is reproduced only with an error of 9%. The cylindrical and spheroidal particle models yield slightly improved results for that deviate from those obtained for the complex particle ensemble by 7% and 5%, respectively. Large discrepancies between results of the different models are observed for the linear depolarization ratio, thus indicating limitations of models based on simple particle shapes.
© 2002 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Cinzia Zuffada and David Crisp
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 14(2) 459-469 (1997)
Michael I. Mishchenko
Appl. Opt. 32(24) 4652-4666 (1993)
Lei Bi, Ping Yang, George W. Kattawar, and Ralph Kahn
Appl. Opt. 49(3) 334-342 (2010)