Numerical study on the wavelength-dependent polarization of light scattered by aqueous droplets for RGB spectrums

Based on Lorenz–Mie scattering theory, the transformation matrix of an aqueous droplet is derived analytically. By employing single scattering approximation and log-normal size distribution function, the DOP (degree of polarization) of the light scattered by a unit volume of aqueous droplets for RGB (red, green and blue) spectrums is studied. In our study, the wavelength-dependent complex refractive index for water with fine resolution is novelly obtained by using Piecewise Interpolation method based on Segelstein's refractive index data. The analytical results reveal that extrema of the DOP which is dependent on the relative intensities of the orthogonal polarizations are associated with scattering angles, and, for RGB spectrums, increasing wavelength can alleviate the influence of the resonance on the orthogonal polarizations and the DOP.