Discrimination between spheres and spheroids in a detection system for single particles based on polarization characteristics

- Finite element method is employed to solve the scattering problem.
- Cross-polarization occurs for spheroids as distinct from spheres.
- IPI system was combined with polarizing devices for experimental verification.
- A polarization-based method to distinguish single spheres and spheroids is proposed.

The polarization characteristics of light scattered by particles are sensitive to the morphology of the scatterers. In this study, we employed the finite element method (FEM) with a finite element software (COMSOL multiphysics) to retain the potentiality to extend the theoretical study of scattering in this work to single particles with more complex morphology and arbitrary orientation. The angular distribution profiles of the scattering field components perpendicular and parallel to the incident polarization direction are obtained for spherical and spheroidal particles. By comparison with the spheres' preservation of the polarization, cross-polarization effects for differently oriented spheroidal particles are revealed. The question how to experimentally discriminate the particles with smooth surface moving freely in the detected area at single-particle level according to polarization is addressed. To this end, polarizing devices are inserted into an interference particle imaging (IPI) system. By detecting the orthogonally polarized components of the light, the preservation of the polarization state after scattering by spheres and the occurrence of cross-polarization effects after scattering by spheroids are verified experimentally with the fringes in the IPI system as a reference. A feasible method for distinguishing a spheroidal from a spherical shape at the single-particle level based on the existence of a cross-polarized component of the scattered light is proposed.