Laven Philip
Appl Opt. 2017 Jul 1;56(19):G20-G25. doi: 10.1364/AO.56.000G20.
Near-forward scattering of sunlight generates coronas and iridescence on clouds. Coronas are caused by diffraction, whereas iridescence is less easily explained. Iridescence often appears as bands of color aligned with the edges of clouds or as apparently random patches of color on clouds. This paper suggests that iridescence is due to interference between light that has been diffracted by a spherical droplet of water and light that has been transmitted through the same droplet.
太阳光的近前向散射在云层上产生晕圈和虹彩。晕圈是由衍射引起的，而虹彩则较难解释。虹彩通常表现为与云边缘对齐的色带，或者是云面上看似随机分布的色斑。本文认为，虹彩是由球形水滴衍射的光与透过同一水滴的光之间的干涉造成的。
