Résumé
Colloidal Solids (COLIS) is a state-of-the-art light scattering setup
developed for experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS). COLIS
allows for probing the structure and dynamics of soft matter systems on a wide
range of length scales, from a few nm to tens of microns, and on time scales
from 100 ns to tens of hours. In addition to conventional static and dynamic
light scattering, COLIS includes depolarized dynamic light scattering, a
small-angle camera, photon correlation imaging, and optical manipulation of
thermosensitive samples through an auxiliary near-infrared laser beam, thereby
providing a unique platform for probing soft matter systems. We demonstrate
COLIS through ground tests on standard Brownian suspensions, and on protein,
colloidal glasses, and gel systems similar to those to be used in future ISS
experiments.