Dear Sir. Concerning your issue about the possibility of Mie scattering in non-water based aerosol. The Mie solution to Maxwell's equations (also known as the Lorenz–Mie solution, the Lorenz–Mie–Debye solution or Mie scattering) describes the scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave by a homogeneous sphere. The solution takes the form of an infinite series of spherical multipole partial waves. It is named after Gustav Mie. The term Mie solution is also used for solutions of Maxwell's equations for scattering by stratified spheres or by infinite cylinders, or other geometries where one can write separate equations for the radial and angular dependence of solutions. The term Mie theory is sometimes used for this collection of solutions and methods; it does not refer to an independent physical theory or law. More broadly, "Mie scattering" suggests situations where the size of the scattering particles is comparable to the wavelength of the light, rather than much smaller or much larger. Mie scattering (sometimes referred to as a non-molecular or aerosol particle scattering) takes place in the lower 4.5 km of the atmosphere, where there may be many essentially spherical particles present with diameters approximately equal to the size of the wavelength of the incident energy. Mie scattering theory has no upper size limitation, and converges to the limit of geometric optics for large particles. I think the following below links may help you in your analysis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mie_scattering

https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2195011/195621.pdf

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4683352/

Thanks

I agree with the answer of professor Elgailani.

Based on the information provided in the review article by Fan et al (2014), Light scattering and surface plasmons on small spherical particles

https://www.nature.com/articles/lsa201460.pdf

the extended Mie theory is applicable in the case of non water based aerosol

(Including other liquids, dry particles and liquid particles with dry cores). The numerical problems encountered with the non-spherical particles are often very difficult to solve and some simplification of the original Mie method are required. For this reason the Fraunhofer diffraction theory is applied when the scattering particles are relatively large (at least, 10 times the wavelength) and the scattering angle is small (30° or less).

The need for these simplifications is less evident with the advancements in the field of applied mathematics and increasing of the computational power. The extended Mie scattering theory is becoming even more viable than it was at the time its creation.

The other techniques such as T-matrix method and Discrete Dipole Approximation are outlined briefly in the following report

https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2012-03-08/2_smith_pdf_14805.pdf

Hi Frederic

I used Bohren and Hufman algorithm successfully in several papers (you can have a look in my profile) for computing scattering and extinction efficiencies of water based aerosols but in case you know the refractive index and can assume that the particles are spherical (most sprays are...) you can easily use it with non water based aerosols. You will need to know their size distribution. Your particles are hopefully homogeneous (heterogeneous particles will be much more difficult to compute). A rather simple algorithm (I use it in MATLAB) will do the trick...if you need some more info feel free to ask...

The collection of algorithms to perform calculations of the Mie scattering (coded in FORTRAN, IDL, MATLAB and PYTHON) is available at

http://scatterlib.wikidot.com/mie

Thank you all for very valuable information given that will help me to go further.

Dear Frederic

I agree with all the other answers. In addition I will mention a MATLAB code from Christian Mätzler I am using in my work.

http://www.iap.unibe.ch/publications/pub-detail.php?id=835

All the best

Hi Fredric,

I have previously studied the Mie Scattering of oil (fluid) sprays, but also compared the results with SiO2 and AL2O3 particles (Solid).

Conference Paper Light scattering efficiency of oil smoke seeding droplets in...

In 1990 I spent a sabbatical at MIT  investigating high speed 0.3micron particle injection into transonic flows. Using Gonnish(incense|) in a pressurised combustion chamber  I injected the smoke particles into the flow  via a  convergent divergent nozzle.

The particles were measured using a Mie  scattering probe.

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• Progress in Aerospace Sciences 27(3):237-265

• DOI: 10.1016/0376-0421(90)90008-8

• Project:

• Particle Image Velocimetry

• Peter Bryanston-cross & A. Epstein