Abstract

An experiment named Critical Fluid Light Scattering (Zeno) is planned for the USMP-2 flight of January, 1994. The purpose of the experiment is to measure the decay rates of critical density fluctuations in xenon very near its liquid-vapor critical point using laser light scattering and photon correlation spectroscopy. Such experiments are limited on earth by the presence of gravity which causes large density gradients in the sample. The goal is to measure fluctuation decay rates with 1% precision, two decades closer to the critical point than is possible on earth, with a temperature resolution of ± 3 µK. This will require loading the sample to ± 0.1% of the critical density and recording correlograms as close as 100 µK to the critical temperature (Tc = 289.72 K).

© 1992 Optical Society of America