OPTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF NONSPHERICAL AND NONHOMOGENEOUS PARTICLES

Interest in the characterization of non-spherical and/or non-homogeneo us particles has increased dramatically in recent years from a wide va riety of application areas. For characterization by optical means, sev eral essential elements are identified and briefly discussed, with som e indication of their respective state-of-the-art. This article serves as an introduction to the special cluster of articles which follows i n this issue, and attempts to put these contributions into perspective with respect to the overall problem.