Influence of Refractive Index on the Accuracy of Size Determination of Aerosol Particles with Light-Scattering Aerosol Counters

Abstract

The scattering properties of single aerosol particles with different indices of refraction have been computed from the Mie theory considering the spectral response of light-scattering aerosol counters commercially available. It is demonstrated that high resolution of the aerosol size distribution is impossible, particularly because of the different refractive indices of the atmospheric aerosol particles. By using other ranges of scattering angle for the measurement, one may, in some cases, obtain better results.