Light-scattering Rayleigh theory

Lord Rayleigh (1871) recognized that the blue of the sky is the result of light scattering. It is obvious from the numerous pictures sent back from outer space that the blackness observed by astronauts is quite different from our earthly observations of a blue sky. Rayleigh developed the theory of light... 

For spheres sufficiently small that Rayleigh theory (Chapter 5) is applicable, or for arbitrarily shaped particles that satisfy the requirements of the Rayleigh-Gans approximation (Chapter 6), incident light with electric field components parallel and perpendicular to the scattering plane may be scattered with different amplitudes however, there is no phase shift between the two components. Hence, the amplitude scattering matrix has the form... 

The Rayleigh approximation shows that the intensity of scattered light depends on the wavelength of the light, the refractive index of the system (subject to the limitation already cited), the angle of observation, and the concentration of the solution (which is also restricted to dilute solutions). In the Rayleigh theory, the size and shape of the scatterers (M and B) enter the picture through thermodynamic rather than optical considerations. 

A full theory of light scattering from a viscoelastic medium has been presented by Rytov17). This theory has been extensively discussed in the context of Rayleigh-Brillouin spectroscopy of bulk polymers18"21). In the present paper the results of that work will be presented and extended to include relaxation near the glass transition. 

From Rayleigh theory, the intensity of light scattered from each droplet or particle depends largely on its size and shape, and on the difference in refractive index between the particle and the medium. For a dispersion, each spherical droplet, bubble, or particle scatters unpolarized light having an intensity l[Pg.24]

Keyes T, Kivelson D. Depolarized light scattering theory of the sharp and broad Rayleigh lines. I Chem Phys 1972 56 1057-1065. 

According to the fluctuation theory of light scattering (Flory 1953), the relationship between the Rayleigh factor and the physical characteristics of the macromolecules in solution is expressed in the following general form ... 

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