LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC OPTICS

Old and new laboratory experiments on atmospheric optics with a focus on mirages, rainbows, and halos are presented. Some qualitative demons trations serve primarily didactical purposes, e.g., by proving the exi stence of curved Light rays in media with a gradient of the index of r efraction, by directly visualizing the minimum-deviation curve for rai nbow paths in water droplets, or by helping to elucidate the ray class es in hexagons that contribute to a specific halo. In addition, quanti tative experiments allow a direct comparison of angular positions and intensities with analytical computations or Monte Carlo simulations of light scattering from small water droplets or ice hexagons. In partic ular, the latter can help us to understand complex halo phenomena. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.