Inversion of low-angle elastic light-scattering data with a new method devised by modification of the Chahine algorithm

A new inversion method, devised by modification of the nonlinear iterative method originally proposed by Chahine [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58, 1634 (1968)] is applied to the inversion of low-angle elastic light-scattering data. The algorithm was tested by computer simulations carried out within the wave-vector range 2.5 × 102−2.5 × 104 cm−1. The particle-size distributions were recovered in the 0.70-77-µm range of radii. Compared with the original method of Chahine, this algorithm is much more stable and reliable with respect to random noise, improves the overall reliability of the fitting, and allows both number and weight particle-size distributions to be retrieved accurately. When the performances of the method are investigated with respect to the noise, the results of the simulations show that the particle-size distributions can be recovered accurately up to noise levels of several rms percent. © 1997 Optical Society of America.