Biomedical subjects

Gorden Videen

Publications and source records attributed to Gorden Videen.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Light backscatter by surfaces composed of small spherical particles.

We present measurements of phase angle curves of intensity and degree of linear polarization of powdery surfaces at two spectral bands centered near 0.44 and 0.63 microm. Three powder samples consisting of nonabsorbing spherical particles of sizes comparable with the wavelengths 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 microm were examined. The particulate surfaces were measured in the phase angle range of 0.2 degrees-50 degrees by two different photometers and/or polarimeters. At small phase angles, powdery samples consisting of spherical particles (having very high albedo that resulted in significant multiple scattering) showed prominent features that corresponded to single-particle scattering. These features became more prominent after compressing the surfaces when we changed the packing density of the powders from 0.29 to 0.48. Noticeable differences were observed between polarimetric curves corresponding to different wavelengths. All the samples demonstrated prominent opposition intensity spikes at phase angles <2 degrees likely caused by the coherent backscatter enhancement due to multiple scattering within the particulate surface. The intensity phase curves at these two wavelengths were similar. The photopolarimetric measurements may have broad applications to the interpretation of photometry, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of the ice regoliths of high albedo satellites.

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PubMed2005

Discrete dipole approximation simulations of scattering by particles with hierarchical structure.

We use the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method to calculate the intensity and the linear polarization degree of light scattered by agglomerated debris particles with hierarchical structure as functions of size parameter (varying from x = 2 to x = 14) and phase angle. Such structures are important, e.g., for cometary and interplanetary dust particles. Calculations for three combinations of refractive index were made, which correspond to regions of water ice, organic matter, and silicates. We examine the photometric and polarization properties of agglomerated particles with prefractal (Whitten-Sander model) and nonfractal porous structures of particle fragments formed by dipoles. We find that the aggregated particles can produce significant negative polarization at small phase angles. Increasing the packing density of dipoles and/or refractive index makes the negative polarization more prominent. The depth of the negative polarization branch depends on the type of internal structure: the negative polarization branch of particles having nonfractal structure is noticeably shallower in comparison with that of those having a prefractal structure. The negative polarization branch depth strongly depends on the imaginary part of the refractive index and increases with decreasing absorption. Polarization phase curves for agglomerated debris particles become smoother as the number of hierarchical levels increases.

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PubMed2005

Finite-difference time-domain solution of light scattering by an infinite dielectric column immersed in an absorbing medium.

The two-dimensional (2-D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is applied to calculate light scattering and absorption by an arbitrarily shaped infinite column embedded in an absorbing dielectric medium. A uniaxial perfectly matched layer (UPML) absorbing boundary condition is used to truncate the computational domain. The single-scattering properties of the infinite column embedded in the absorbing medium, including scattering phase functions and extinction and absorption efficiencies, are derived by use of an area integration of the internal field. An exact solution for light scattering and absorption by a circular cylinder in an absorbing medium is used to examine the accuracy of the 2-D UPML FDTD code. With use of a cell size of 1/120 incident wavelength in the FDTD calculations, the errors in the extinction and absorption efficiencies and asymmetry factors from the 2-D UPML FDTD are generally smaller than approximately 0.1%. The errors in the scattering phase functions are typically smaller than approximately 4%. With the 2-D UPML FDTD technique, light scattering and absorption by long noncircular columns embedded in absorbing media can be accurately solved.

Absorption↗

PubMed2004

Examination of surface roughness on light scattering by long ice columns by use of a two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain algorithm.

Natural particles such as ice crystals in cirrus clouds generally are not pristine but have additional microroughness on their surfaces. A two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) program with a perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary condition is developed to calculate the effect of surface roughness on light scattering by long ice columns. When we use a spatial cell size of 1/120 incident wavelength for ice circular cylinders with size parameters of 6 and 24 at wavelengths of 0.55 and 10.8 microm, respectively, the errors in the FDTD results in the extinction, scattering, and absorption efficiencies are smaller than approximately 0.5%. The errors in the FDTD results in the asymmetry factor are smaller than approximately 0.05%. The errors in the FDTD results in the phase-matrix elements are smaller than approximately 5%. By adding a pseudorandom change as great as 10% of the radius of a cylinder, we calculate the scattering properties of randomly oriented rough-surfaced ice columns. We conclude that, although the effect of small surface roughness on light scattering is negligible, the scattering phase-matrix elements change significantly for particles with large surface roughness. The roughness on the particle surface can make the conventional phase function smooth. The most significant effect of the surface roughness is the decay of polarization of the scattered light.

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PubMed2003

Yet another look at light scattering from particles in absorbing media.

We examine the scattering properties of particles contained in absorbing media. Rather than consider energy fluxes through arbitrary integrating spheres, we examine the extinction from its fundamental definition: the energy removed from the plane wave, or incident beam. The resulting energy received by a detector contains two terms: one the result of the incident beam traversing through the medium that would have occurred if the particle were not present, and a correction term due to the presence of the particle. Both terms have the same dependence on the pathlength that the beam travels between two arbitrarily located parallel planes and are independent of where the particle is located within the medium. The result is that the definition of the extinction cross section is not dependent on a reference plane or the particle location within the medium.

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PubMed2003

Polarized infrared emissivity from dew droplets on a surface.

We model the infrared polarization emissivity from spherical particles on a plane surface. The emissivity and polarization is primarily a function of the density of particles multiplied by their cross-sectional area. The presence of particles tends to reduce the polarization. As the emission angle increases from near-normal incidence, the polarization tends to pass through a maximum, followed by a minimum and a final sharp rise at near grazing angles. The mechanism for this structure is the shadowing of different portions of the spherical particles by other particles.

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PubMed2003

Backscattering and negative polarization of agglomerate particles.

We used the discrete dipole approximation to study the backscattering of agglomerate particles consisting of oblong monomers. We varied the aspect ratio of the monomers from approximately 1 (sphere) to 4, while we kept the total particle volume equivalent to that of an x = 10 sphere for m = 1.59 + i0 and 1.50 + i0 and considered two values of agglomerate packing density: rho = 0.25 and rho = 0.1. We found that these particles do not display a prominent brightness opposition effect but do produce significant negative polarization over a range of near-backscattering angles. Increasing the monomers' aspect ratio can make the negative polarization much more prominent. We have noted also that decreasing m and p can reduce the amplitude of the negative polarization for these particles.

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PubMed2003

Coherence, power laws, and the negative polarization surge.

We develop a second-order ray-tracing model that includes the constructive interference of reciprocal rays and Fresnel reflections from an inverse gamma-type distribution function of path length to predict the negative polarization branch seen in some astronomical bodies. We expect that such a path-length distribution might resemble the path lengths undertaken by rays incident upon some astronomical bodies. The resulting negative polarization is largely wavelength independent and depends primarily on the power law in the path-length distribution, which coincides with some observations.

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PubMed2003

Classical photometry of prefractal surfaces.

Using the scale invariance of classical photometry, we develop an approach to finding the photometric function of prefractal structures that form a random topography. The photometric function of the prefractal surfaces is found as the general solution of the resulting differential equation in partial derivatives. The function depends on two parameters: the number of hierarchical levels of the prefractal structures and the roughness parameter of the single-level generation. As a limiting case, the approach includes our previous theory that considered fractoids.

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PubMed2002

Polarization opposition effect and second-order ray tracing.

I develop a second-order ray-tracing model of the light scattered by a cloud of randomly oriented facets having sizes much larger than the incident wavelength. My results suggest that both symmetric and asymmetric branches of the polarization opposition effect can be produced by the same mechanism responsible for the photometric opposition effect, i.e., constructive interference of light rays traversing reciprocal paths that is associated with coherent backscattering enhancement. The model provides a greatly simplified representation of the physical phenomena to isolate the two mechanisms that may be responsible for the effect. The shapes and positions of the two branches of the polarization opposition effect calculated with the model are consistent with observation, so the model may provide a rapid technique to characterize the optical and physical properties of a scattering system. I note, however, that the model is a gross simplification containing only two physical mechanisms, Fresnel reflections and coherent interference, and it is possible that it represents a nonphysical description of particles smaller than the wavelength or that other mechanisms contributing to the polarization opposition effect are not included.

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