Theoretical analysis of the particle properties and polarization measurements made in microgravity

We propose a new model to describe the shapes of stochastic polyhedra used in the microgravity experiment PROGRA2 on board the Airbus A300 aircraft. The polarization measurements of scattering of visible light by boron carbide (B4C) particles with sizes between 9 and 88 μm can nicely be explained with the derived shape statistics and the (currently unknown) refractive index obtained. For the latter we derive 2 (-0.15/+0.1)+0.04i(-0.0025/+0.015) at 632.8 nm wavelength. The polarization method is a reliable and sensitive means to estimate various particle properties in various remote sensing applications, including the planetary sciences