Differentiation of submicron particles with two-dimensional light scattering technology

The study of submicron particles becomes increasing important in biomedical field. For example, some biological substances such as extra-cellular vesicle have been reported to play important roles in understanding of cancer. Twodimensional (2D) light scattering technology has been previously applied for the analysis of micro-size cells or particles. In this paper, we develop the 2D light scattering technology for the analysis of submicron particles. Light sheet technology is adopted to provide a uniform and high intensity excitation. Two-dimensional light scattering patterns of polystyrene beads (250 nm and 510 nm in diameter) are imaged by a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor through a 40X objective lens. The experimental results are found to be similar with our 2D light scattering simulations based on Mie theory. Our results show that the submicron particles can be well detected by 2D light scattering technology, which is expected to have future applications in the field of biomedicine.