Extending depolarized DLS measurements to turbid samples

TL;DR

This paper extends the modulated 3D cross correlation dynamic light scattering technique to depolarized measurements, enabling characterization of anisotropic particles in highly turbid samples with minimal transmission.

Contribution

The authors develop and test a new optical design for mod3D-DDLS, allowing for effective depolarized DLS in turbid samples with low transmission, which was not previously possible.

Findings

Successful measurement in samples with 1% transmission

Demonstrated ability to characterize anisotropic particles in turbid media

Highlighted importance of optical design in depolarized DLS

Abstract

The application of dynamic light scattering to soft matter systems has strongly profited from advanced approaches such as the so-called modulated 3D cross correlation technique (mod3D-DLS) that suppress contributions from multiple scattering, and can therefore be used for the characterization of turbid samples. Here we now extend the possibilities of this technique to allow for depolarized light scattering (Mod3D-DDLS) and thus obtain information on both translational and rotational diffusion, which is important for the characterization of anisotropic particles. We describe the required optical design and test the performance of the approach for increasingly turbid samples using well defined anisotropic colloidal models systems. Our measurements demonstrate that 3D-DDLS experiments can be performed successfully for samples with a reduced transmission due to multiple scattering as low as 1\%. We compare the results from this approach with those obtained by standard DDLS experiments, and point out the importance of using an appropriate optical design when performing depolarized dynamic light scattering experiments with turbid systems.