Signal statistics of laser light scattering

After a brief survey of number fluctuations, a topic of current interest in light scattering research, the theory is developed for a particular case of this type. A laser beam of Gaussian cross section illuminates a volume in which there is a fluctuating number of identical particles. For incoherent detection the scattered intensities are additive. The interest centers on the statistics of the total scattered intensity. Starting from the moment generating function, the distribution function of scattered intensity is computed using two different methods. In an experiment designed to test the computed distributions, agreement between theory and measurement is found if the mean particle number within the scattering volume exceeds 3. The experimental procedure is described and some difficulties are explained which so far did not permit application of the theory for particle numbers much below 3.