I. Dror et al., EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE SCATTERING LAYER ON IMAGE QUALITY - THE SHOWER CURTAIN EFFECT, Applied optics, 37(27), 1998, pp. 6495-6499
The imaging quality of optical systems in a turbid environment is infl
uenced not only by the content of the turbid layer between the object
and the optical receiver but also by the inhomogeneity of that medium.
This is important, particularly when imaging is performed through clo
uds, nonhomogeneous layers of dust, or over vertical or slant paths th
rough the atmosphere. Forward small-angle scattering influences image
quality and blur more severely when the scattering layer is closer to
the receiver. in this study it is the influence of the relative positi
on of the scattering layer on the image quality and modulation transfe
r function (MTF) that is investigated. The scattering layer in control
led laboratory experiments consists of calibrated polystyrene particle
s of known size and quantity in a small cuvette. A point source was im
aged by a computerized imaging system through a layer containing polys
tyrene particles, and the point-spread function (PSF) was recorded. Th
e aerosol MTF was calculated using the measured SF. The MTF was measur
ed as a function of changing relative distance of the scattering layer
from the receiver, whereas the object-plane-to-receiver distance was
constant. The experimental results were compared to theoretical shower
curtain effect models based on the solution from radiative transfer t
heory under the small-angle approximation. Although the general trend
of the experimental results certainly agrees with the theoretical mode
ls, it could be that the small-angle approximation method might be of
Limited validity at such low spatial frequencies. Aggregation also cau
ses some disagreement with predictions from theory. (C) 1998 Optical S
ociety of America.