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User Guide

  This document shows you how to use the program  MieCalc, if it is launched from a  HTML-document (i.e., from a web page). Note that some features of  MieCalc such as  storing output data in ASCII-format, printing the plots etc.  are only available in the stand alone  version of MieCalc 
 

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Basics

MieCalc is a very flexible program to calculate the optical and electromagnetic scattering from a single homogeneous spherical particle illuminated by a plane incident light wave (Mie theory). With MieCalc, you can study the functional dependence of  light-scattering observables as functions of certain other parameters, for example:

Input Parameters

All quantities required as input for calculations are called "input parameters".  MieCalc supports a large set of input parameters: Click here for a complete list of  parameters. Clearly, the set of input parameters is redundant: you can use the radius r  or the diameter d of the particle, or you may enter the frequency f, the wavelength lambda or the wavenumber k to specify the properties of the incident light.   With this redundance you can easily adjust MieCalc to your preferences.

There are three categories of input parameters:

  1. Constants. These input parameters are kept at a fixed value during the calculation.
  2. Variables.  A variable is specified by its range of variation and the number of data points to be evaluated. There must be at most one variable in a calculation. For instance, you can use the wavelength lambda,  the diameter d of the particle, the scattering angle theta, the refractive index of the surrounding medium refmed, etc. as the variable. Any input parameter can be used as a variable.
  3. Tabulated parameters. These parameters are read in from the text area of the program in  ASCII format. There may be more than one tabulated parameter in a calculation, but you cannot use variables and tabulated parameters in the same calculation.

Output parameters

All quantities that can be plotted are called "output parameters". There are many output parameters supported by MieCalc: Click here for a complete list of   parameters. In the calculations at least two output parameters must be specified, one of them playing the role of the abscissa, the others being plotted along the ordinate. For instance, you may specify the wavelength as the abscissa and the extinction, scattering, and absorption efficiencies Qext, Qsca, and Qabs  for the ordinate.

Consistent and Complete Set of Parameters

In order to perform a calculation you must specify the output parameters you are interested in and all  input parameters which are needed for the calculation. The program will check two things: If the input parameters are inconsistent or not complete, the program issues a warning message and waits until acceptable input is entered. Only if  the input is OK are you able to run the program.
 
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