Abstract

Quasi-elastic light scattering is a powerful tool for studying dynamic behavior of motile bacteria in liquid suspension. Previously we proposed an ellipsoidal structural model to account for the straight line motion of E. coli bacteria. We have in this article extended our structural model to include rotational motions superimposed on the translational motion of the center of mass. A general formulation is given by which the light scattering spectrum of any rotational-translational motion of a structured particle can be calculated. Specific calculations are carried out for three types of rotational motions, namely, planar wiggling motion, pure rotation, and helical rotation, around the average direction of motion. Further narrowing of the scattered field correlation function as compared with that of the straight line motion is observed in all three cases. We finally compare the helical rotation model with our previous experimental results for E. coli and find a substantial improvement over that of the straight line motion model.

© 1978 Optical Society of America

Structural effects in quasi-elastic light scattering from motile bacteria of E. coli

Michael Holz and Sow-Hsin Chen
Appl. Opt. 17(12) 1930-1937 (1978)

Accuracy of RGD approximation for computing light scattering properties of diffusing and motile bacteria

Michael Kotlarchyk, Sow-Hsin Chen, and Shoji Asano
Appl. Opt. 18(14) 2470-2479 (1979)

Quasi-elastic light scattering from structured particles

S.-H. Chen, M. Holz, and P. Tartaglia
Appl. Opt. 16(1) 187-194 (1977)

Tracking bacterial movements using a one-dimensional fringe system

Michael Holz and Sow-Hsin Chen
Opt. Lett. 2(5) 109-111 (1978)

Scaling properties of light scattering spectra for particles moving with helical trajectories

T. Craig, F. R. Hallett, and S.-H. Chen
Appl. Opt. 21(4) 648-653 (1982)