Atmospheric aerosol particles, as one of the important members in the earth atmosphere, can influence the radiative transfer from violet and visible light to infrared in a wide wave band. On one hand, by scattering and absorption of electromagnetic waves, they can induce the energy attenuation of light waves; on the other hand, by turning the absorbed energy into the heat energy, they can heat up the atmosphere. This process directly or indirectly plays an important role in the simulation of radiate climate effect, the propagation of laser atmosphere, the high resolution spectrum, the ground and space remote sensing, the atmospheric correction, the environmental monitoring, the target detection and identification, and the overland traffics, aviation and navigation. We review the study of physics-optics characteristics of atmospheric aerosols, aiming at providing a reference for further study of atmospheric aerosols.