CHARGE EFFECTS ON DENSITY-FLUCTUATIONS IN STRETCHED GELS

We present a theoretical analysis of density fluctuations in weakly ch arged polymer gel swollen in poor solvent and subjected to uniaxial ex tension. The calculated factor is suppressed along the stretching axis and enhanced along the perpendicular directions. In the absence of ad ded salt, plots of the isointensity lines produced complicated contour s with a maximum at a finite wave vector in the plane normal to the ex tension axis. As increases with the addition of salt, these contours a re transformed into butterfly patterns oriented along a direction perp endicular to that observed in uncharged gels.