Response of the Active Scattering Aerosol Spectrometer Probe (ASASP-100X) to Particles of Different Chemical Composition

Abstract

Response of the Active Scattering Aerosol Spectrometer Probe (ASASP-100X) was simulated numerically for particles of different chemical composition. Simulation was based on the Mie scattering calculations of the ASASP's response to input lognormal size distributions of particles having different refractive indices. Results from such simulation calculations show that the measurement data would greatly distort the true size distributions with apparent artificial peaks and underestimation of particle volume, especially in the resonant region of the instrument's response, 0.4–0.8 μm particle diameter size range. Thus it is very important in interpreting the size distribution data measured with an ASASP to correct them using the size calibration data based on the optical properties of the particles being measured.