Comparative studies of the reflectance and degree of linear polarization of particulate surfaces and independently scattering particles

Abstract

We compare measurements of the phase-angle dependencies of the intensity and degree of linear polarization of particles in air and particulate surfaces. The samples were measured at two spectral bands centered near 0.63 and 0.45 μm. The surfaces were measured with the new photometer/polarimeter at the Astronomical Institute of Kharkov National University. The scattering measurements of the particles in air were carried out with the equipment currently located at the University of Amsterdam. We study a suite of samples of natural mineral particles of different sizes all in the micrometer range, i.e. comparable with the wavelengths. The samples are characterized by a variety of particle shapes and albedos. The samples have been studied in several works and in this paper we include new SEM microphotographs of particles and spectra of powders in a wide spectral range, 0.3–50 μm, using the RELAB equipment of Brown University. We made measurements of particulate surfaces in a phase-angle range, 2–60° that is significantly wider than that of our previous studies. We confirm our earlier results that the negative polarization of the surfaces may be a remnant of the negative polarization of the single scattering by the particles that constitute the surfaces. We also find differences in the spectral behavior of the polarization degree of particles in air and particulate surfaces at large phase angles.