The research presented in this thesis involves the study of ice cloud microphysical and optical properties using both hyperspectral and narrowband infrared spectral data. First, ice cloud models are developed for the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument onboard the METOP-A satellite, which provide the bulk-scattering properties of these clouds for the 8461 IASI channels between 645 and 2760 cm-1. We investigate the sensitivity of simulated brightness temperatures in this spectral region to the bulk-scattering properties of ice clouds containing individual ice crystal habits as well as for one habit distribution. The second part of this thesis describes an algorithm developed to analyze the sensitivity of simulated brightness temperatures at 8.5 and 11.0 µm to changes in effective cloud temperature by adjusting cloud top height and geometric thickness in a standard tropical atmosphere. Applicability of using these channels in a bi-spectral approach to retrieve cirrus cloud effective particle size and optical thickness is assessed. Finally, the algorithm is applied to the retrieval of these ice cloud properties for a case of single-layered cirrus cloud over a tropical ocean surface using measurements from the Moderate Resolution Infrared Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Cloud top height and geometric thickness in the profile are adjusted to assess the influence of effective cloud temperature on the retrieval.

The research presented in this thesis involves the study of ice cloud microphysical and optical properties using both hyperspectral and narrowband infrared spectral data. First, ice cloud models are developed for the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument onboard the METOP-A satellite, which provide the bulk-scattering properties of these clouds for the 8461 IASI channels between 645 and 2760 cm-1. We investigate the sensitivity of simulated brightness temperatures in this spectral region to the bulk-scattering properties of ice clouds containing individual ice crystal habits as well as for one habit distribution. The second part of this thesis describes an algorithm developed to analyze the sensitivity of simulated brightness temperatures at 8.5 and 11.0 µm to changes in effective cloud temperature by adjusting cloud top height and geometric thickness in a standard tropical atmosphere. Applicability of using these channels in a bi-spectral approach to retrieve cirrus cloud effective particle size and optical thickness is assessed. Finally, the algorithm is applied to the retrieval of these ice cloud properties for a case of single-layered cirrus cloud over a tropical ocean surface using measurements from the Moderate Resolution Infrared Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Cloud top height and geometric thickness in the profile are adjusted to assess the influence of effective cloud temperature on the retrieval.

A theory is developed to explain the dependence of carrier transport in a thin semiconducting film on film thickness, magnetic field strength, and the dominant bulk scattering mechanism. This theory is based on the solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation in relaxation time form. The semiconductor is assumed to be bounded and nondegenerate with spherical energy surfaces and a scalar effective mass, It is also assumed to be flat banded with totally diffuse scattering at the surface. Classical Boltzmann statistics are used for equilibrium. The dependence of the relaxation time on the carrier energy is approximated by a power law equation. The principle improvement over similar theories is the treatment of the dependence of the relaxation time on carrier energy. The power law approximation for this dependence is valid for randomizing and elastic scattering mechanisms.

Les techniques polarimétriques ont connu un récent essor, notamment dans le domaine de l'imagerie satellitaire ou du biomédical. Ces techniques se sont étendues au cas des milieux désordonnés. Dans ce contexte, des théories unifiées sont apparues, mêlant cohérence temporelle et spatiale, dépolarisation...L'équipe CONCEPT de l'Institut Fresnel, est aujourd'hui étroitement impliquée dans l'étude de la polarisation dans le speckle de la lumière diffusée. Des résultats nouveaux ont été mis en évidence, comme la dépolarisation spatiale multi-échelle, les phénomènes de repolarisation temporelle, la dépolarisation spectrale. La prédominance de ces effets est naturellement liée à l'origine du speckle (surface, volume), mais aussi aux niveaux d'absorption et aux propriétés structurelles (rugosités, hétérogénéités) des milieux désordonnés.La plupart de ces études sont de nature théorique. Ce constat est lié à l'extrême difficulté de mesurer avec précision la polarisation de la lumière à l'échelle du grain de speckle. Les travaux réalisés dans le cadre de cette thèse avaient ainsi pour but de remédier à cette lacune, et nous ont amenés à développer une procédure optique pour extraire les états de polarisation, et le degré de polarisation (DOP), à l'échelle du grain de speckle. En conséquence la polarisation est ici extraite pour chaque pixel d'une matrice CCD, ce qui amène tout d'abord à mettre en évidence des nuages de points plus ou moins étendus sur la sphère de Poincaré. Les histogrammes de DOP sont ensuite utilisés comme véritables signatures des milieux désordonnés. / Polarimetric techniques knew a recent rise, especially in the field of satellite imaging andbiomedical, optics. These techniques are extended to the case of the disordered media, for applications related to the imaging scattering medium. In this context the unified theories appeared, combiningtemporal and spatial coherence, and depolarization...The team CONCEPT at Fresnel Institute, established in 2012, is now closely involved in the study of the polarization state of the scattered light within the speckle size. New results have been highlighted, such as the multi-scale spatial depolarization, the temporal enpolarization phenomena, and the spectral depolarization. The predominance of these effects is naturally related to the speckle origin (surface, bulk), but also to the absorption levels and the structural properties (roughness, heterogeneities) of disordered media.However, most of these studies are theoretical, and few experiments were previously able to reinforce the predictions. This statement is related to the extreme difficulty of accurately measuring the polarization of light across the speckle grain. Our thesis had the aim to address this gap in, and we were able to develop a procedure to extract the optical polarization states, and the degree of polarization (DOP), inside of the speckle grain.Consequently, the polarization is here extracted for each pixel of a CCD matrix, which leads first to highlight a cloud of points more or less extended on the Poincaré sphere. DOP histograms are then used as genuine signatures of disordered media.