Ultralow-angle dynamic light scattering with a charge coupled device camera based multispeckle, multitau correlator

We use a charge coupled device (CCD) camera and a multi-tau software correlator to measure dynamic light scattering (DLS) at many angles simultaneously, from 0.07 degrees to 5.1 degrees. Real-time autocorrelation functions are calculated by averaging both over time and over CCD pixels, each corresponding to a different coherence area. In order to cover the wide spectrum of decay times associated with the large range of accessible angles, we adopt the multitau scheme, where the correlator channel spacing is quasilogarithmic rather than linear. A detailed analysis is presented of the effects of dark noise, stray light, and finite pixel area, and methods to correct the data for these effects are developed, making a CCD camera a viable alternative for a DLS detector. We test the apparatus on a dilute suspension of colloidal particles. Very good agreement is found between the particle radius derived from the CCD data, and that obtained with a conventional DLS setup. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)05008-X].