Spatial coherence of homodyne light scattering from particles in a convective velocity field

Abstract

The effect of spatial coherence of light scattering by particles in a hydrodynamic velocity field has been studied both theoretically and experimentally. Integration of the scattered intensity over all scattering vectors that contribute to the active detector area gives a correlation function with a functional form strongly dependent on the detector size. These results are of central importance to understand the limitations of homodyne light scattering from particles in a convective velocity field.