SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF THE AEROSOL COMPLEX INDEX OF REFRACTIONAND SIZE DISTRIBUTION FROM SCATTERING MEASUREMENTS OF POLARIZED-LIGHT

In this study we attempt to determine the aerosol complex index of ref raction and size distribution from scattering measurements of polarize d Light. We illustrate that the scattering matrix elements M-2 (100 de grees) and D-21 (150 degrees) can be selected as an optimum set of mat rix elements for determination of the complex index of refraction. We also illustrate that errors increase if we include insensitive scatter ing matrix elements in the determination of the complex index of refra ction. A method is developed for the simultaneous determination of the complex index of refraction and the size distribution. In our method, we selected two sets of matrix elements, M-2 (100 degrees) and D-21 ( 150 degrees), for the determination of the complex index of refraction and others, which are much less sensitive to the complex index of ref raction than M-2 (100 degrees) and D-21 (150 degrees), for the determi nation of the size distribution, based on their sensitivity analyses. A modified inversion library algorithm is adopted to solve the coupled system. Numerical experiments show that both the complex index of ref raction and the size distribution can be determined with reasonable ac curacy when we apply our method to scattering measurements of polarize d light. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.