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Doppler-encoded Mie scattering rainbow of flying particles
Rui Wang1,2, Pushihan Wang1,2, Yuxuan Lang1,2
1School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Science Advances
|June 17, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed a new method to precisely measure flying particles using Doppler-encoded Mie scattering. This technique analyzes the "scattering rainbow" to determine particle size and refractive index quickly and accurately.
Area of Science:
- Optics and Photonics
- Particle Metrology
- Spectrometry
Background:
- Light scattering is fundamental to light-matter interactions and particle metrology.
- Current methods struggle to analyze freely flying particles due to data acquisition time and motion blur.
- Precise characterization of airborne particles is crucial for various scientific and industrial applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel technique for high-precision metrology of freely flying particles.
- To overcome limitations of conventional scattering-based methods for dynamic particle analysis.
- To enable real-time, in situ characterization of airborne particles.
Main Methods:
- Observation of Doppler-encoded Mie scattering using optically propelled microparticles in antiresonant hollow-core fibers.
- Introduction of transverse Doppler spectrometry for single-particle analysis.
- Collection of scattered light in the near field with a high-numerical aperture objective.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated a broadband
- scattering rainbow
- encoded with Doppler frequency shifts in the transverse direction.
- Transformed spatial diffraction patterns of flying particles into the frequency domain.
- Achieved high-precision determination of particle diameter and refractive index within milliseconds.
Conclusions:
- The developed transverse Doppler spectrometry enables precise, millisecond-scale metrology of flying particles.
- This technique overcomes previous limitations in analyzing dynamic airborne particles.
- Offers a versatile platform for in situ particle analysis in diverse fields like atmospheric monitoring and flow cytometry.
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