Numerical study of particle-size distributions retrieved from angular light-scattering data using an evolution strategy with the Fraunhofer approximation

An algorithm is presented based on an evolution strategy to retrieve a particle size distribution from angular light-scattering data. The analyzed intensity patterns are generated using the Mie theory, and the algorithm retrieves a series of known normal, gamma, and lognormal distributions by using the Fraunhofer approximation. The distributions scan the interval of modal size parameters 100 ≤ α- ≤ 150. The numerical results show that the evolution strategy can be successfully applied to solve this kind of inverse problem, obtaining a more accurate solution than, for example, the Chin-Shifrin inversion method, and avoiding the use of a priori information concerning the domain of the distribution, commonly necessary for reconstructing the particle size distribution when this analytical inversion method is used.