Light Scattering Characteristic Simulation of Nonspherical Particles for Cloud Particle Probe

Herein,a polarizing cloud particle probe was developed to further understand the scale spectrum and shape distribution of cloud particles and investigate the microphysical properties of clouds. The probe can receive both forward and backward scattering energies of the particles, control the detection area through the forward quality control channel, and obtain the depolarization ratio of the particles based on the horizontal and vertical channels of backward scattering. The scattering of several types of ellipsoid and hexagon particles in the probe was simulated using the geometrical optics approximation method. Simulation results show that the forward scattering cross-section of the particles is positively related to its equivalent radius. The oblate particles exhibit a stronger forward scattering ability and a smaller backward scattering depolarization ratio than the slim particles. Therefore, the ellipsoid particles show a smaller backward scattering depolarization ratio than the hexagon particles. The simulation data verify the feasibility of the probe for cloud particle detection and provide an inversion basis for detecting the scale spectrum and shape distribution of nonspherical particles.