Scattering properties of needlelike and platelike ice spheroids with moderate size parameters

Abstract

We use the current advanced version of the T-matrix method to compute the optical cross sections, the asymmetry parameter of the phase function, and the scattering matrix elements of ice spheroids with aspect ratios up to 20 and surface-equivalent-sphere size parameters up to 12. We demonstrate that platelike and needlelike particles with moderate size parameters possess unique scattering properties: their asymmetry parameters and phase functions are similar to those of surface-equivalent spheres, whereas all other elements of the scattering matrix are typical of particles much smaller than the wavelength (Rayleigh scatterers). This result may have important implications for optical particle sizing and remote sensing of the terrestrial and planetary atmospheres.

© 2000 Optical Society of America

Light scattering by polydispersions of randomly oriented spheroids with sizes comparable to wavelengths of observation

Michael I. Mishchenko and Larry D. Travis
Appl. Opt. 33(30) 7206-7225 (1994)

Light scattering by randomly oriented spheroidal particles

Shoji Asano and Makoto Sato
Appl. Opt. 19(6) 962-974 (1980)

Light scattering by size–shape distributions of randomly oriented axially symmetric particles of a size comparable to a wavelength

Michael I. Mishchenko
Appl. Opt. 32(24) 4652-4666 (1993)

Single-scattering properties of triaxial ellipsoidal particles for a size parameter range from the Rayleigh to geometric-optics regimes

Lei Bi, Ping Yang, George W. Kattawar, and Ralph Kahn
Appl. Opt. 48(1) 114-126 (2009)

Scattering of light by polydisperse, randomly oriented, finite circular cylinders

Michael I. Mishchenko, Larry D. Travis, and Andreas Macke
Appl. Opt. 35(24) 4927-4940 (1996)