Abstract

The solar blind UV forward scatterometer system will participate in the AFGL atmospheric aerosols research program. The experimental system is designed to provide high angular resolution radiance measurements around a point mercury lamp source at the wavelength of 2537 Å. The principal advantage of operating in the solar blind spectral region is the lack of the background radiation due to absorption of the solar radiation by the stratospheric ozone layer. Therefore the system may be operational in varying atmospheric conditions both day and night. Measured radiances will be inverted to deduce the aerosol size distributions in the 0.2–10-µm radii range. It is emphasized that angular scattering in the aureole region (0.5-10°) is due to the diffraction effect mainly and is therefore relatively insensitive to the unknown aerosol refractive index and particle shape. The receiver system consists of a solar blind radiometer, angular scanning device, and personal computer. It features hand-free data acquisition, high sensitivity, low noise, and wide dynamic range. The system is photon-noise-limited. Preliminary results are presented.

© 1985 Optical Society of America