Comparison of measured and predicted aerosol scattering functions

It has been demonstrated in a controlled laboratory experiment that the normalized phase function and the scattering coefficient of an aerosol can be predicted from measurements of aerosol particle size distribution, density, and index of refraction. The predictions are based on Mie's solution for a single sphere applied to an aggregate of water droplets. The experiment was conducted with a helium-neon laser, 6328 A, as the source. The results imply that a particle content monitor can be used to determine the optical transmission properties of a local atmosphere.