Relation of electro-acoustic effects to low frequency anomalies in colloidal electro-optics

Low frequency anomalous electro-optic behaviour of colloids (deviations fro m Kerr law) concerns a series of phenomena in different systems widely stud ied by researchers involved in the field of colloids, (bio)polymers, (bio) polyelectrolytes, etc. Investigations on samples of isotropic spherical par ticles display electro-optic effects of similar characteristics, which are recognized as electrically induced acoustic modes. Therefore the analysis o f the colloidal electro-optic spectra requires separation of anisotropy and density fluctuations prior to application of the method for determination of single particle constants. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.