Database of Optical Properties of
small particles

• Theoretical aspects:

  • Optical characteristics of non-spherical scatterers
    Definitions of basic characteristics of non-spherical scatterers and comparison of these definitions with often more simple ones for spherical scatterers.
    
  • Most popular scatterer models and their parameters
    Introductory notes on primarily parameters of light scattering models and a list of the popular models and their features (under construction).
    
  • Exact and approximate computational methods
    A brief comparative survey of methods and an original review of papers where different methods where developed.
    
  • Experimental approaches
    A list of reviews (under preparation) and links to the databases of Hovenier's and Gustafson's groups on the visible/infrared and microwave light scattering experiments, respectively.
    
  • Bibliography on light scattering
    A database containing over 8000 references to papers on various aspects of light scattering theory and its applications (one can now both browse and search in the database) and links to other useful bibliographic resources.
    
  
  

• Application aspects:

  • Optical characteristics of materials
    Introductory notes on optical characteristics of media, remarks on optical constants of cosmic dust analogs being introduction to our database of optical constants for astronomy (JPDOC).
    
  • Light scattering codes
    Our codes with the results of test runs and links to other code collections.
    
  • Benchmarks in optical properties
    Tables of different light scattering characteristics carefully calculated by different codes (methods).
    
  • Dependence of optical properties on scatterer parameters
    A graphics library for simple scatterers and a special section on the optical properties of cosmic dust analogs.
    
  • Special tool to create figures comparing optical properties of different scatterers
    (under construction)
    
  • Self-training algorithm of determination of the optical properties of fractal-like clusters
    A description of the algorithm and its basics, documented software and some training results.
    
  
  

• Related resources:

  • Virtual Laboratory
    This nice site allows on-line calculations of various optical properties of non-spherical scatterers using well docummented codes and a user-friendly interface. The tool is designed for educational purposes and is already used in the courses of aerosol physics and remote sensing at several universities all over the world.
    
  • Radiative transfer codes
    Optical characteristics required here are noted, a table of methods is presented and as an illustration a long list of the radiative transfer codes used in astronomy is given.
    
  • Miscellaneous
    Links to other useful resources.