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B. Å. S. Gustafson (U. Florida), F. Giovane (Space Sc. Div., NRL), L. Kolokolova, K.W.T. Waldemarsson, Y.-l. Xu, J. McKisson (U. Florida)
The Laboratory for Astrophysics at the University of Florida has developed a dust analyzer capable of measuring key particle physical parameters without causing damage to the dust grains. A laser illuminates particles passing through an optical system that measures intensity and polarization of the scattered light at specific scattering angles. The choice of scattering angles, a sophisticated light collecting assembly and analysis algorithms allow classification of the dust particles according to size, shape (equidimensional, elongated, smooth or angular), composition (dielectric, absorbing, or metallic) and internal structure (compact or porous). The instrument's capabilities are illustrated using theoretical simulations, microwave analogue measurements and tests data obtained using a laboratory version of the PAM/IDA.
We gratefully acknowledge NASA support through the Planetary Instrument Definition & Development Program, Grant NAG5-4547.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~gustaf/instrumentation/PAM-IDA.htm. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gustaf@astro.ufl.edu