Dynamic light scattering in turbid nonergodic media

In vivo study of optical speckle decorrelation time across depths in the mouse brain

The strong optical scattering of biological tissue confounds our ability to focus light deeply into the brain beyond depths of a few hundred microns. This challenge can be potentially overcome by exploiting wavefront shaping techniques which allow light to be focused through or inside scattering media. However, these techniques require the scattering medium to be static, as changes in the arrangement of the scatterers between the wavefront recording and playback steps reduce the fidelity of the focus that is formed. Furthermore, as the thickness of the scattering medium increases, the influence of the dynamic nature becomes more severe due to the growing number of scattering events experienced by each photon. In this paper, by examining the scattering dynamics in the mouse brain in vivo via multispeckle diffusing wave spectroscopy (MSDWS) using a custom fiber probe that simulates a point-like source within the brain, we investigate the relationship between this decorrelation time and the depth of the point-like light source inside the living mouse brain at depths up to 3.2 mm.

Investigation of moderately turbid suspensions by heterodyne near field scattering

Light scattering has proven to be a very powerful technique to characterize soft matter systems. However, many samples are turbid and hence suffer from multiple scattering which can affect the signal considerably. Multiple scattering can be reduced by diluting the sample or changing the solvent, but often this alters the sample and hence is precluded. Here we study the dynamics of a model system. In particular, we investigate the effects of moderate multiple scattering on small-angle heterodyne near field scattering (HNFS). Varying the particle concentration and size we change the degree of multiple scattering, which is quantified by the transmission of light. In dependence of the degree of multiple scattering, we analyze the statistical properties of the HNFS signal, which is the difference between two intensity patterns separated by a delay time. The distribution of intensity differences follows a Gaussian distribution if single scattering dominates and a Laplace distribution in the presence of extreme multiple scattering. We also investigate the effects of multiple scattering on the measured intermediate scattering function and the hydrodynamic radius of the particles. Reliable data are obtained for sample transmissions down to about 0.7. This is confirmed by a comparison with results from a far field cross-correlation instrument that suppresses multiple scattering contributions. Therefore, HNFS represents a technically simple but powerful method to investigate samples that are moderately multiple scattering.

Instrumentation on multi-scaled scattering of bio-macromolecular solutions

The design, construction and initial tests on a combined laser light scattering and synchrotron X-ray scattering instrument can cover studies of length scales from atomic sizes in Angstroms to microns and dynamics from microseconds to seconds are presented. In addition to static light scattering (SLS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), the light scattering instrument is being developed to carry out studies in mildly turbid solutions, in the presence of multiple scattering. Three-dimensional photon cross correlation function (3D-PCCF) measurements have been introduced to couple with synchrotron X-ray scattering to study the structure, size and dynamics of macromolecules in solution.

Modulated 3D cross-correlation light scattering: improving turbid sample characterization

Accurate characterization using static light scattering (SLS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) methods mandates the measurement and analysis of singly scattered light. In turbid samples, the suppression of multiple scattering is therefore required to obtain meaningful results. One powerful technique for achieving this, known as 3D cross-correlation, uses two simultaneous light scattering experiments performed at the same scattering vector on the same sample volume in order to extract only the single scattering information common to both. Here we present a significant improvement to this method in which the two scattering experiments are temporally separated by modulating the incident laser beams and gating the detector outputs at frequencies exceeding the timescale of the system dynamics. This robust modulation scheme eliminates cross-talk between the two beam-detector pairs and leads to a fourfold improvement in the cross-correlation intercept. We measure the dynamic and angular-dependent scattering intensity of turbid colloidal suspensions and exploit the improved signal quality of the modulated 3D cross-correlation DLS and SLS techniques.

Slow dynamics in dense oil-water emulsions studied using dynamic light scattering

The 3D-echo-DLS (dynamic light scattering) flat cell light scattering instrument (3D-echo-DLS-FCLSI) presents the possibility of measuring slow dynamics of turbid and concentrated colloidal systems. It combines a modified 3D-DLS component and an echo-DLS component with the flat cell light scattering instrument. While the 3D-DLS suppresses multiple scattering, the echo-DLS allows measurements of slow dynamics or even on non-ergodic systems. The advantage of the thin flat cell is that it increases the transmission and reduces multiple scattering; i.e., singly scattered light that is required by the 3D-DLS is still available from dense turbid systems. In the first part of this contribution the 3D-echo-DLS-FCLSI is introduced and the instrumental performance is presented. The second part of the paper is concerned with the ageing behavior of dense fluids in a flat cell, and with confinement effects. Here, we show that ageing is strongly influenced by the process of filling of the flat cell. In some cases complementary methods can be utilized to measure special properties of the system; e.g., the multispeckle method is most appropriate for measuring heterogeneity effects. In the last part of the paper we compare glass transition measurements of an index-matched emulsion carried out using the 3D-echo-DLS-FCLSI and using the multispeckle instrument. We still find an α-relaxation in the glassy state.