Fast in situ sizing technique for single levitated liquid aerosols

Abstract

A fast in situ sizing technique for single levitated aerosol particles is presented. It makes use of the analysis of fast-Fourier-transformed vertically polarized Mie scattering patterns from single liquid aerosols levitated in a Paul-trap-type electrodynamic balance. The technique is shown to give reliable results for a test sphere of known physical properties. A first application to aqueous sodium chloride aerosol particles that changed size on humidity variation is presented, yielding good agreement with the full Mie theory. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America.