Collision-Induced Light Scattering in Liquids and the Binary Collision Model

The collision-induced Rayleigh wing in the depolarized light scattering spectrum of five molecular liquids has been studied in order to try to assess the validity of the isolated binary collision model. The intensity profiles have been analyzed in terms of the expressions derived by Bucaro and Litovitz, [Formula: see text], and by Shin, [Formula: see text]. It is concluded that before a positive distinction can be made between models or before reliable information on molecular dynamics may be extracted from the spectrum, a good theoretical estimate of the form of the induced polarizability Δα for close collisions is required.