An optical cuvette for orientation of gelatinous media and measurements of their spectral-polarization characteristics

The design characteristics of the optical cuvette suggested here provide the possibility of accomplishing the uniaxial orientation of gels with retention of the constancy of their volume, which makes it possible to carry out highly accurate polarization measurements with commercial spectropolarimeters in directions parallel and perpendicular to the axis of orientation. Using as examples polyacrylamide gels containing biologically important molecules and membranes, the possibility of measuring absorption spectra, the linear dichroism, and the dispersion of optical rotation is demonstrated. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 286–289, March–April, 1999.