Mie Scattering

Mie Scattering (MS) is elastic scattered light of particles that have a diameter similar to or larger than the wavelength of the incident light. The signal from Mie scattering is proportional to the frontal area of the incident light encounters, i.e. the square of the particle diameter. It is much stronger than Rayleigh scattering and, therefore, a potential source of interference for this weaker light scattering process. There is a strong angular dependency of the scattered intensity especially for smaller particles which has to be considered for successful Mie imaging experiments. Mie scattering is often used to measure flow velocities applying Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV).