Flow Light Scattering. I. Theoretical Principles of the Effect and Apparatus for Its Measurement

Abstract

A brief introduction is given into the theory of radiation scattering by rigid spheroids and deformable random coils dispersed or dissolved in a liquid medium subjected to flow at a well‐defined velocity gradient. The theory is limited, in the former instance, to spheroids whose largest dimension does not exceed 1 3 of the wavelength of the incident radiation. It is shown that the radiation scattering increment produced by flow makes it possible to determine not only the axial ratio, as obtainable by streaming birefringence, but also the numerical values of semimajor and semiminor axis of a spheroid provided two orthogonal components of incident linearly polarized light are used. Essentials of the construction and operation of an apparatus designed for the study of hydrodynamic radiation scattering are described.