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A new method for studying the smallest particles of atmospheric and cosmic dust has been developed by scientists of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in collaboration with international colleagues. The approach is based on the property of physical bodies to partially polarize reflected sunlight. This effect allows one to obtain information about the size, structure, and composition of objects for remote space sensing of comets and clouds of interplanetary dust. The results of the research have been published in international journals: Optics Letters and Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer.

According to Evgenij Zubko, Lead Researcher, FEFU School of Natural Sciences, the determination of the volume concentration of dust particles in the atmosphere is one of the most important tasks of remote space sensing. It becomes more complicated if the object is at a large distance or has a very small size. To determine its properties, scientists propose to investigate the degree of linear polarization of reflected sunlight. Scientists can get physical and chemical characteristics of objects by the way light interacts with particles of dust and matter in space.

The new method is based on the works of the classic Russian physicist Nikolay Umov, who in the early twentieth century described the relationship between the reflectivity of an object and the degree of polarization of the light reflected from it. Recent research has shown that this effect can be used in practice: to determine the volume concentration of cosmic dust.

“The Umov effect was described more than 100 years ago and eventually has increasingly drawn the attention of scientists. Our new research convinced us that Umov's law manifests itself equally on large objects, for example, the Moon, and on single micron particles, either cosmic or atmospheric dust. This effect allows us to accurately estimate the concentration of dust particles, whether in the Earth's atmosphere or in outer space,” said Evgenij Zubko.

The scientist pointed out that the new approach has a great potential for practical application. It expands the possibilities of exploring comets, clouds of interplanetary dust, and atmospheric aerosols.

“The development of space is a task of national importance. The space theme has become closer to the Federal University with the opening of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, and we have become actively involved in this work,” said Evgenij Zubko.

The research will be continued in FEFU in collaboration with a group of employees of the Institute of Automation and Control Processes of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Doctor of Physics and Mathematics Andrey Pavlov. Scientists plan to make polarimetric observations of the Earth's atmosphere and to analyze the data using Umov's law.