An investigation of photon correlation spectroscopy data analysis packages "discrete" and "contin" using the Schulz-Zimm distribution

DISCRETE and CONTIN are standard data analysis packages used in Photon Correlation Spectroscopy for inversion of noisy autocorrelation functions. Their resolution was studied using simulated autocorrelation data based on the Schulz-Zimm distribution of polymer radii; Autocorrelation functions with various noise levels were fitted to both programs. The CONTIN output was compared with the original distribution. Autocorrelation functions calculated for broader distributions of radii yielded correspondingly broader functions in the radius space. Features like the skewness of the original Schulz-Zimm distribution were not recovered except in the case of narrow, approximately monodisperse radius distributions. Addition of noise was not found to seriously affect the performance of DISCRETE and CONTIN, however, a narrowing of the recovered radius distribution, attributable to the CONTIN feature of parsimony, was observed; It was concluded that although CONTIN results are affected by the breadth of the original radius distribution, an exact correspondence is hard to find.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1991

Author dc:creator

• Qazi, Usman Abdul Aziz

Contributors dc:contributor

• J. C. Selser

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/151

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1150