title: Experiments on light scattering and extinction by small, micrometer-sized aggregates of spheres.
abstract: We performed experiments to study the extinction, scattering, and polarization of light by ensembles of fractal dust aggregates that consist of spherical monomers large compared with the wavelength. Extinction was measured on a homogeneous dust cloud. Scattering and polarization were measured on a collimated dust beam. We found that polarization and extinction are determined only by a small size scale that is defined by a monomer and its closest neighbors in an aggregate. The scattering function might also depend on the overall size of the aggregate or the total number of monomers in an aggregate.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schnaiter
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wurm