EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS

The laboratory apparatus measures the complete scattering matrix as a function of the scattering angle of aerosol particles. The measurements can be performed at a wavelength (λ) of 483, 488, 520, 568, or 647 nm in the scattering angle (θ) range from 3 to 177 degrees.

Schematic overview of the IAA Cosmic Dust Laboratory.
Schematic overview of the IAA Cosmic Dust Laboratory.
Schematic overview of the IAA Cosmic Dust Laboratory.
Schematic overview of the IAA Cosmic Dust Laboratory.

 

For a detailed description of the experimental apparatus and data reduction process, click here.

 

The apparatus was tested by using some spherical test particles, for which Mie's theoretical solution is well known. Water droplets were used for testing before measuring samples of micron-sized particles. For measurements of individual mm-sized grains, some commercial calibration spheres were used as test particles.

EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS TEST MEASUREMENTS

SAMPLE* reff** (μm) veff λ (nm) Angle range (deg)
BK7 mm-sized sphere 25000 520 [,]
Water Droplets (Granada) rg= 0.8 (lognormal SD) sg=1.5 (lognormal SD) 488, 520, 647 [3,177]