Light scattering

About: Light scattering is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 37721 publications have been published within this topic receiving 861581 citations.

Stokes vectors, Mueller matrices, and polarized scattered light

Abstract: The complete characterization of scattered light is described in the context of Stokes vectors and Mueller matrices which highly motivates the measuring procedures. The most general form of the scattering matrix coupled with polarizers and quarter wave plates elegantly demonstrates the physical relationship among the matrix elements and polarization measurements.

Possible correlation between blood glucose concentration and the reduced scattering coefficient of tissues in the near infrared

Abstract: Tissue glucose levels affect the refractive index of the extracellular fluid. The difference in refractive index between the extracellular fluid and the cellular components plays a role in determining the reduced scattering coefficient (micro(s)') of tissue. Hence a physical correlation may exist between the reduced scattering coefficient and glucose concentration. We have designed and constructed a frequency-domain near-infrared tissue spectrometer capable of measuring the reduced scattering coefficient of tissue with enough precision to detect changes in glucose levels in the physiological and pathological range.

Laser light scattering in laboratory plasmas

Abstract: The theory of light scattering from a collection of free electrons is reviewed, and it is shown that the frequency spectrum observed at a detector is precisely that of the density fluctuations of a particular scale length in the scattering medium, the scale length being determined by the wavelength of the incident light and the geometry of the experimental arrangement. The electron density fluctuation in a plasma is calculated, and it is shown that the plasma Debye shielding distance λD is a critical length in the theory, the electrons behaving independently on a scale shorter than λD and collectively on a scale longer than λD. The collective behaviour is characterized by the presence of waves that can give rise to well-defined resonances in the scattered-light spectrum. The effects of differing ion and electron temperatures, current flowing in the plasma, magnetic field, and Coulomb collisions are considered briefly. Technical considerations in planning experiments to test the theory and to apply it to the diagnosis of real laboratory plasmas are discussed, with attention being given to signal-to-noise ratio, stray light, and the dispersing instrument to be used at the detector. Some representative experiments that have been carried out are reviewed.

Removal of atmospheric effects from satellite imagery of the oceans.

Abstract: In attempting to observe the color of the ocean from satellites, it is necessary to remove the effects of atmospheric and sea surface scattering from the upward radiance at high altitude in order to observe only those photons which were backscattered out of the ocean and hence contain information about subsurface conditions. The observations that (1) the upward radiance from the unwanted photons can be divided into those resulting from Rayleigh scattering alone and those resulting from aerosol scattering alone, (2) the aerosol scattering phase function should be nearly independent of wavelength, and (3) the Rayleigh component can be computed without a knowledge of the sea surface roughness are combined to yield an algorithm for removing a large portion of this unwanted radiance from satellite imagery of the ocean. It is assumed that the ocean is totally absorbing in a band of wavelengths around 750 nm and shown that application of the proposed algorithm to correct the radiance at a wavelength lambda requires only the ratio () of the aerosol optical thickness at lambda to that at about 750 nm. The accuracy to which the correction can be made as a function of the accuracy to which can be found is in detail. A possible method of finding from satellite measurements alone is suggested.

Surface characterization techniques for determining the root-mean-square roughness and power spectral densities of optical components

Abstract: Surface topography and light scattering were measured on 15 samples ranging from those having smooth surfaces to others with ground surfaces. The measurement techniques included an atomic force microscope, mechanical and optical profilers, confocal laser scanning microscope, angle-resolved scattering, and total scattering. The samples included polished and ground fused silica, silicon carbide, sapphire, electroplated gold, and diamond-turned brass. The measurement instruments and techniques had different surface spatial wavelength band limits, so the measured roughnesses were not directly comparable. Two-dimensional power spectral density (PSD) functions were calculated from the digitized measurement data, and we obtained rms roughnesses by integrating areas under the PSD curves between fixed upper and lower band limits. In this way, roughnesses measured with different instruments and techniques could be directly compared. Although smaller differences between measurement techniques remained in the calculated roughnesses, these could be explained mostly by surface topographical features such as isolated particles that affected the instruments in different ways.