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| Significance of the scattering vector | Prev topic | Next topic Fig. 1, Fig. 2 |
The concept of the scattering vector provides a valuable shortcut in expressing the phase relations between waves scattered by the various centers of a dilute light scattering medium (Fig. 1) or by the various volume elements of a tenuous particle (Fig. 2). Indeed, the difference, Δφ, between phases of waves scattered by two such centers (say P and P') can be expressed (for example, Fig. 1) as follows:
| Δφ= -r • q | (1) |
where r is a vector pointing from P' to P and q is the scattering vector.
It follows that the inverse, 1/q, of the magnitude, q, of the scattering vector defines a length scale which can be "probed" with light scattering (for example, Sorensen CM 2001). Indeed, if the phase difference, between the waves scattered by two centers is much smaller than unity, it will hardly be resolved. In the case of a particle, this criterion implies that if the geometric extent of the particle (i.e. the maximum distance, r, between any two points of the particle) is much smaller than 1/q, then the angular pattern of light scattering is little influenced by the particle shape and internal structure.
| CITATION: Jonasz M. 2006. Significance of the scattering vector (www.tpdsci.com/Tpc/ScaVctSgnf.php). In: Top. Part. Disp. Sci. (www.tpdsci.com). |
HISTORY: Published: 15-Jun-2006 Modified: 18-Feb-2008 Reviewed: PENDING |
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