ABSTRACT
Light diffraction patterns from single glycerinated frog semitendinosus muscle fibers were examined photographically and photoelectrically as a function of diffraction angle and fiber rotation. The total intensity diffraction pattern indicates that the order maxima change both position and intensity periodically as a function of rotation angle. The total diffracted light, light diffracted above and below the zero-order plane, and light diffracted into individual orders gives information about the fiber's longitudinal and rotational structure and its noncylindrical symmetry.
Subject(s)
Muscles/physiology , Animals , Lasers , Muscle Contraction , Rana pipiens , Rotation , Spectrum Analysis/instrumentation , Spectrum Analysis/methodsABSTRACT
Scattering from an apparently perfect fiber, placed perpendicular to a laser beam, produces an out of plane scattering pattern containing an internal structure not predicted by simple fiber scattering theory. A photographic study of light scattered from twisted fibers shows that the effect is due to periodic disturbances along the fiber axis that act as coherent scattering centers.