1;Supervisor's Foreword;8 2;Acknowledgments;9 3;1 Introduction;18 3.1;1.1...General Introduction;18 3.2;1.2...Aims and Motivation;23 3.3;1.3...Outline;24 3.4;References;24 4;2 Basics and Brillouin Light Scattering;26 4.1;2.1...Elastic Waves in Condensed Matter;26 4.1.1;2.1.1 Elasticity Theory Basics;26 4.1.2;2.1.2 Elastic Waves in Isotropic Media;31 4.1.3;2.1.3 Spherical Waves;32 4.2;2.2...Light Scattering Basics;33 4.3;2.3...Brillouin Light Scattering;37 4.3.1;2.3.1 BLS Basics;38 4.3.2;2.3.2 BLS Instrumentation;42 4.3.3;2.3.3 Vibrational Modes of Individual Particles;49 4.4;References;51 5;3 Methods;52 5.1;3.1...Vertical Lifting Deposition and Colloidal Crystals;52 5.2;3.2...Melt Compression;54 5.3;3.3...Polymer and Colloid Characterization Techniques;55 5.3.1;3.3.1 Photon Correlation Spectroscopy;55 5.3.2;3.3.2 Electron Microscopy;56 5.3.3;3.3.3 Differential Scanning Calorimetry;57 5.3.4;3.3.4 Density Gradient Column;57 5.3.5;3.3.5 Wide Angle X-ray Scattering;58 5.3.6;3.3.6 UV/VIS Spectroscopy;58 5.3.7;3.3.7 Gel Permeation Chromatography;59 5.4;3.4...Theoretical Calculations;60 5.4.1;3.4.1 Single-sphere Scattering Cross-section Calculations;61 5.4.2;3.4.2 The Plane Wave Method;62 5.4.3;3.4.3 The Multiple Scattering Method;64 5.4.4;3.4.4 The Finite Element Method;68 5.5;References;68 6;4 The Vibrations of Individual Colloids;70 6.1;4.1...Introduction;70 6.2;4.2...Elastic Vibrations in Homogeneous Polymer Colloids;72 6.2.1;4.2.1 The 'music' of the spheres;72 6.2.2;4.2.2 The Influence of the Neighbors: Mixtures;78 6.2.3;4.2.3 The Influence of the Rigidity: Copolymers;80 6.2.4;4.2.4 The Influence of the Wave Vector: Suspensions;86 6.3;4.3...Elastic Vibrations in Nanostructured Colloids;88 6.3.1;4.3.1 The Influence of the Temperature: PS--SiO2 Core--Shell Particles;88 6.3.2;4.3.2 The Influence of the Components: SiO2--PMMA Core--Shell Particles;94 6.4;4.4...Materials;101 6.4.1;4.4.1 Homogeneous Polymer Colloids;101 6.4.2;4.4.2 Homogeneous Silica Colloids;102 6.4.3;4.4.3 PS--SiO2 Core--Shell Particles;102 6.4.4;4.4.4 SiO2--PMMA Core--Shell Particles;103 6.5;References;103 7;5Phononic Behavior of Colloidal Systems;105 7.1;5.1 Introduction;105 7.1.1;5.1.1 The Phononic Band Diagram;107 7.1.2;5.1.2 The Effective Medium;110 7.1.3;5.1.3 Phononic Band Gaps;112 7.1.3.1;5.1.3.1 Normalization;115 7.2;5.2 Effective Medium Velocity in Defect Doped Opals;116 7.3;5.3 Band Gaps in Polymer Opals and Disordered Systems;120 7.3.1;5.3.1 The Influence of the Order in Colloidal Systems;120 7.3.2;5.3.2 The Influence of the Composition in Disordered ColloidalSystems;127 7.4;5.4 Band Gaps in SiO2 Colloidal Systems;129 7.4.1;5.4.1 Phononic Behavior of Silica Suspensions;130 7.4.2;5.4.2 Silica-Poly(ethyl acrylate) Films (PhoXonics);133 7.5;5.5 Materials;136 7.5.1;5.5.1 Melt Compressed Silica-Poly(ethyl acrylate) Films;137 8;6 Smaller than Colloids: Characterization of Stable Organic Glass;139 8.1;6.1...Introduction;139 8.2;6.2...BLS Experiments on IMC;140 8.3;6.3...Materials and Methods;144 8.3.1;6.3.1 Stable Glass;144 8.3.2;6.3.2 BLS Measurements;145 8.4;References;145 9;7 Concluding Remarks;147 9.1;7.1...Conclusions;147 9.2;7.2...Outlook;149 9.3;References;150 10;8 Appendix: Scattering Geometry;151 10.1;8.1...Transmission Case;151 10.2;8.2...Reflection Case;152 11;Curriculum Vitae;155 12;Presentations in International Conferences;156 13;Index;158