Abstract

Optical heterodyne spectra of laser light quasi-elastically scattered by falling water droplets (1–10-μ radius) in a diffusion cloud chamber were used to determine the droplet size distribution. The rate of fall depends on radius in a known way, thus yielding a heterodyne spectrum manifesting a distribution of Doppler shifts. This spectrum, in conjunction with the calculated Mie scattering intensity as a function of droplet radius, provides a direct measure of the droplet size distribution for droplets large enough that Brownian motion is negligible. The experiments described in this paper demonstrate the technique and establish the potential for further more quantitative studies of size distributions.

© 1973 Optical Society of America

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