Self-Assembly of Synthetic and Biological Polymeric Systems of ...

2.3.1.- Static light scattering (SLS)
As mentioned above, matter scatters electromagnetic waves due to the induction of an
oscillating electromagnetic dipole which serves as a source for the scattered light wave. In this
way, Rayleigh scattering is described in terms of three factors: the incident light, the particle
(i.e. a macromolecule), which serves as an oscillating dipole, and the scattered light. The
schematic model is shown in Figure 2.7. The equation for the electric field of incident polarized
light beam at x position and at time, t, may be expressed by the following well-known equation
(27)-(32):
where E is the electric field or electric intensity, E0 is the amplitude of the incident electrical
wave, ν is the light frequency in solution, and t is the propagation time.
Figure 2.7. Sketch of a light scattering process (23).
If an incident light reach a particle (i.e. macromolecule), whose size is smaller than the
wavelength , d