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Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths

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Depolarization of light backscattered by randomly oriented nonspherical particles.

M I Mishchenko, J W Hovenier

|October 29, 2009

Summary

We derived general relationships for backscattering depolarization ratios of randomly oriented nonspherical particles. These ratios indicate nonsphericity but do not universally measure shape deviation from spheres.

Area of Science:

Optics
Atmospheric Science
Computational Physics

Background:

Backscattering from nonspherical particles is crucial for understanding light interaction in various media.
Depolarization ratios (delta(L) and delta(C)) are key optical properties sensitive to particle shape.

Purpose of the Study:

To derive theoretical relationships for backscattering matrix elements and depolarization ratios.
To validate these relationships numerically for randomly oriented nonspherical particles.
To investigate the utility of delta(L) and delta(C) as universal measures of particle shape and size.

Main Methods:

Theoretical derivation of general relationships for backscattering properties.
Numerical validation using extensive T-matrix computations.

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Analysis of randomly oriented spheroids with varying shapes, sizes, and refractive indices.

Main Results:

Established general relationships for backscattering matrix elements and depolarization ratios.
Derived a specific relationship between circular and linear depolarization ratios for particles with symmetry: delta(C) = 2delta(L)/(1 - delta(L)).
Demonstrated that delta(L) and delta(C) indicate nonsphericity but lack universal dependence on shape, size, or refractive index.

Conclusions:

The derived relationships provide a theoretical framework for analyzing light scattering by nonspherical particles.
While useful indicators of nonsphericity, delta(L) and delta(C) are not universal metrics for quantifying shape deviation or dependence on particle parameters.
Further research may be needed to establish more comprehensive shape-dependent scattering metrics.