To understand the soot formation characteristics in a pulverized coal flame with a swirling flow, simultaneous imaging of Mie scattering of coal particles and laser induced incandescence (LII) of soot were performed in this study. The pulverized coal flame was stabilized by a hydrogen diffusion pilot flame. The characteristic structures of soot formation in the pulverized coal flame with a swirling flow were analyzed based on a comparison of the experimental results and two-dimensional numerical simulation in the mixing region of coal particles and the oxidizer. The interactions between coal particle clouds and soot formation are discussed in detail. The results clearly show that the averaged radial dispersions of scattering signals from coal particles and of the LII signals from soot are overlapped. The overlapping region appeared nearby the nozzle exit due to the turbulent mixing and the high temperature region formed by swirl-induced recirculation flow. This overlapping region radially expands with increasing the height from the burner. Additionally, the characteristic areas of soot formation were observed in the results of simultaneous imaging of Mie scattering and LII. These areas are 1) streaky soot formation areas around the particle clouds, 2) soot formation areas inside of the particle clouds and 3) soot formation areas around the large coal particles. (C) 2020 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.