Measurement of polarization fluctuations in polydispersions of small spheroids

Fluctuations in the polarization state of light scattered by ensembles of very small, randomly oriented spheroids and ellipsoids are calculated. For the regime of Gaussian single scattering, applicable to dilute particle suspensions and aerosols, it is shown how a goniometric measurement of the cross-correlation coefficient of light scattered into orthogonal polarization states by such particles could be used to estimate their mean aspect ratio, even in the presence of considerable shape polydispersity.

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