Abstract

We have studied the two mechanisms responsible for the back scattering of light by water droplets: the axial ray and the edge ray. Using a He–Ne laser and fiber-supported water droplets, ranging in diam from 0.6 to 1.5 mm, we observed the intensity fluctuations of these two rays as the droplet evaporated. The axial ray varies sinusoidally with droplet size, and the edge ray varies in a very complicated, but periodic manner. The edge-ray signal, as a function of the size parameter, appears to consist of periodic humps of spacing 0.27±0.01, upon which are superimposed, in a coherent manner, clusters of spikes, very narrow resonances. The basic spike period seems to be 0.82±0.02. A complicated beat phenomenon appears to be present with a period of 60.7±1.5. Our experimental results are compared with the results of a Mie computation with the size parameter 3000 and with a simple model.

© 1968 Optical Society of America

Erratum: Optical Back Scattering from Single Water Droplets

T. S. Fahlen and H. C. Bryant
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58(12) 1671-1671 (1968)

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Scattering of Light by Spherical Liquid Droplets Using Computer-Synthesized Holograms

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