Determination of particle size using measurement of scatter

Scatter measurements were taken from glass spheres of size 5 to 50 microns placed on a mirror to see whether such scatter data could be correlated with size. The spheres were illuminated with a laser whose wavelength was 0.62 microns. A Gonioreflectometer was used to vary the detector between the normal to the mirror and 85 deg from the normal and in the plane containing the normal to the mirror and the incident laser light. The azimuth of the detector with respect to the source was 180 deg. The light detector was driven by a step motor. The scatter was dark and bright lines. They appeared as minima and maxima on the output recorder. As the size of the beads increased the number of maxima increased.