Classic light scattering Subject

It is possible to add a second, molecular weight-sensitive detector to an SEC system to provide a direct means of absolute molecular weight calibration without the need to resort to external standards. These detectors represent refinements in classic techniques, such as light-scattering photometry, capillary viscometry (for intrinsic viscosity), and membrane osmometry for on-line molecular weight determination. Yau recently published a review of this subject with comparisons of the properties and benefits of the principal detectors currently in use (22). The present discussion is restricted to lightscattering and viscometry detectors because Yau s osmometry detector is not yet commercially available. The reader is referred to Chapter 4 for a comprehensive discussion of molecular weight-sensitive detectors. 

The absorption and elastic scattering of light by a spherical particle is a classical problem in physics, the mathematical formalism of which is called Mie theory (sometimes also Mie-Debye-Lorenz theory). It is a beautiful and elegant theory, which is the subject of entire treatises. In particular, we refer the reader to Kerker (1969) and Bohren and Huffman (1983). The key parameters that govern the scattering and absorption of light by a particle... 

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