Distribution of particles of a disperse medium at small values of the size parameter: Distortion of the distribution retrieved from the scattering matrix

The size and shape distributions of particles of a dispersive medium are retrieved from measurements of the scattering matrix for aqueous suspensions of copper and zinc oxides by solving the optimization problem for the sum of the squared deviations of the experimental values of matrix elements and their values calculated using the model of spheroidal scatterers. It is shown that for dispersive media with particles of irregular shapes and with sizes corresponding to the size parameter of 0.1–2, the retrieved distribution has a distortion expressed in an increased fraction of smaller sized particles.