Theory of Light Scattering From Shear Waves in Liquids

Abstract

Recent high-resolution experiments have shown that the depolarized-light scattering spectra of a few liquids contain, besides the usual broad background, a sharp component. This component is split into two symmetric peaks. It has been explained as arising from a coupling between thermally excited shear waves and molecular orientations. The theories of Leontovich and Rytov on this coupling are critically revised, and a new theory is proposed which seems to give a better agreement with the experimental results.