Polyacrylamide gels at high crosslinker content are studied by means of sma
ll-angle light scattering. These gels are seen to exhibit a quasi-ordered s
tructure, as indicated by the presence of a peak at nonzero angle in the sc
attering profiles. The quasi-ordered structure presumably results from a tw
o-phase separation phenomenon, induced in the gelling solution by the growt
h of crosslinker-rich polymers. Upon the onset of gelation, separation is a
rrested. Concentration fluctuations with a typical length scale of a few mi
crons are frozen in the gel. As a result, the gel is macroporous.