Analytical techniques for addressing forward and inverse problems of light scattering by irregularly shaped particles

Understanding light scattering by nonspherical particles is crucial in modeling the transport of light in realistic structures such as biological tissues. We report the application of novel analytical approaches based on modified Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin and equiphase-sphere methods that facilitate accurate characterization of light scattering by a wide range of irregularly shaped dielectric particles. We also demonstrate that these approaches have the potential to address the inverse-scattering problem by means of a spectral analysis of the total scattering cross section of arbitrarily shaped particles. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.