March  2008     ISSUE 25

Meetings             

ASTRONOMICAL POLARIMETRY 2008: Science from Small to Large Telescopes

6-11 July 2008,  Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, La Malbaie Québec, Canada

Dear Colleague,

You are kindly invited to participate in the conference “Astronomical  Polarimetry 2008” You will find all the details on our website www.astro.umontreal.ca/astropol2008

The website is now open for registration and abstract submission. We point out that the first 20 graduate students who register and who will present a paper (oral or poster) will receive a reduction of their registration fees.  Contributed papers may be presented as oral or poster papers. However since time is limited, we can not guarantee that your choice will be met. The science organizing committee will make selections based on the abstracts received by the abstract deadline. You will be notified in advance if your contribution has been retained for an oral presentation.  

DATES AND DEADLINES

 Third Announcement: 1-Apr-2008

 Abstract Deadline: 1-May-2008

 End of Early Registration: 23-May-2008

 Late Registration Deadline: 6-June-2008

                Contact email address: pol2008@astro.umontreal.ca

 

Mie Theory 1908-2008 Present developments and interdisciplinary aspects of light scattering

Universität Halle-Wittenberg Halle, Germany, 15th - 17th September 2008

 

Gustav Mie's original 1908 paper on the color of Gold colloids is continuously cited. This demonstrates that light scattering by spherical particles is still a large topic of interest in different scientific disciplines. These include e.g. astrophysics, optical particle characterization and computational graphics. With this conference we like to commemorate Gustav Mie and Mie's Theory by bringing together scientists from different disciplines to discuss the latest developments in the practical application of light scattering. We especially like to invite young researchers to present their research in a talk or by a poster.

     The conference will be organized following the 11th Conference on Electromagnetic and Light Scattering by Nonspherical Particles, 7-12 Sept. 2008, University of Hertfordshire.

 

Preliminary list of invited speakers

Anja C. Andersen, Niels Bohr Institute

Rosaria Vetrano, von Karman Institute

Christine Böckmann, Universität Potsdam

Jeppe R. Frisvad, TU Denmark

Alessandro Battaglia, Universität Bonn

Nils Damaschke, Universität Rostock

Adrian Doicu, DLR

Thomas A. Germer, NIST

Gerard Gouesbet, Universite de Rouen

Evely Hesse, University of Hertfordshire

Philip Laven, Geneva

Daniel Mackowski, Auburn University

Ingrid Mann, Kobe University

Paul A. Martin, Colorado School of Mines

Christian Mätzler, Universität Bern

Olga Munoz, I. Astrofisica de Andalucia

Timo A. Nieminen, University of Queensland Gustav Schweiger,

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Rosalba Saija, Università di Messina

 

Registration:  If you are interested to participate or like to present a talk on a topic related to the scope of the conference please register on the webpage http://www.physik.uni-halle.de/Mie of the conference. All necessary information can be found there.

Venue:  Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, where Gustav Mie was Professor of Physics from 1917 to 1924, before he joint University of Freiburg.

Deadlines: Early Registration till 1st of May 2008, submission of abstracts till 1st of June 2008

Fee: The conference fee will be 60 E for registration before 1st of May 2008 and 80  E for later registration.

Organizing committee

Wolfram Hergert, Institut für Physik, Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

Thomas Wriedt, Institut für Werkstofftechnik, Bremen, Germany

Contact and more information wolfram.hergert@physik.uni-halle.de, thw@iwt.uni-bremen.de

http://www.physik.uni-halle.de/Mie

 

New Position

 

Postdoctoral Position Available for Research in Aerosol Detection,

Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC

The Aerosol Optics Section of the Optical Sciences Division at NRL is seeking a motivated Postdoctoral candidate for research and development of a novel method in aerosol detection and analysis. The project is entitled  “Rapid Identification of Biological Aerosols”  Within the project there are a range of activities that span from basic research to application development:

~Aerosol Generation and Flow Dynamics

~Electrospray Generation and Application

~Electrodynamic Control of Charged Particles

~Laser Fluorescence Spectroscopy

~Detector Characterization and Data Acquisition (e.g. Labview)

~Biomolecular Labeling Techniques (e.g. molecular beacons, antibodies,FRET)

~Bioaerosol Characteristics

Experience or knowledge of all topic areas is not expected, but the ability to work in a hands-on laboratory setting, to assist in experimental design, while working towards an application goal is of primary importance. Applicants that have experience, and/or enthusiasm to learn to work with electronic and optical test equipment are desired.

Potential applicants should be a US citizen or green card holder.

Those interested in more details of the project or to apply should contact either:

 

Dr. Matt Hart

202-767-0122

Matthew.Hart@nrl.navy.mil

or

Dr. Jay Eversole

202-767-9523

jay.eversole@nrl.navy.mil

Information about the Naval Research Laboratory can be found at: www.nrl.navy.mil

 

New Papers

M. A. Yurkin K. A. Semyanov, V. P. Maltsev, and A. G. Hoekstra, "Discrimination of granulocyte subtypes from light scattering: theoretical analysis using a granulated sphere model," Optics Express 15, 16561-16580 (2007).

http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=148215

        Abstract: We perform extensive simulations of light scattering by a granulated sphere in the size and refractive index range of human granulated leucocytes using the discrete dipole approximation. We calculate total and depolarized side scattering signals as a function of the size and refractive indices of cell and granules, and the granule volume fraction. Using typical parameters derived from the literature data on granulocyte morphology, we show that differences between experimentally measured signals of two granulocyte subtypes can be explained solely by the difference in their granule sizes. Moreover, the calculated depolarization ratio quantitatively agrees with experimental results. We also use the Rayleigh-Debye-Gans approximation and its second order extension to derive analytical expressions for side scattering signals. These expressions qualitatively describe the scaling of signals with varying model parameters obtained by rigorous simulations, and even lead to quantitative agreement in some cases. Finally, we show and discuss the dependence of extinction efficiency and asymmetry parameter on size and volume fraction of granules.

 

M. A. Yurkin, A. G. Hoekstra, R. S. Brock, and J. Q. Lu, "Systematic comparison of the discrete dipole approximation and the finite difference time domainmethod for large dielectric scatterers," Optics Express 15, 17902-17911 (2007).

http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=148490

      Abstract: We compare the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method for simulating light scattering of spheres in a range of size parameters x up to 80 and refractive indices m up to 2. Using parallel implementations of both methods, we require them to reach a certain accuracy goal for scattering quantities and then compare their performance. We show that relative performance sharply depends on m. The DDA is faster for smaller m, while the FDTD for larger values of m. The break-even point lies at m = 1.4. We also compare the performance of both methods for a few particular biological cells, resulting in the same conclusions as for optically soft spheres.

 

ADDA update

 The new version of ADDA code (0.78) has been released. This release incorporates a number of new features, significant speed improvements, and several minor bug-fixes. The list of changes, together with the new package and executable for Windows, can be found at the ADDA web site: http://www.science.uva.nl/research/scs/Software/adda/

All ADDA users are advised to upgrade to a new version. Potential users are invited to take a look and try this code.