Light scattering study of a lower critical consolute point in a micellar system

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Abstract
We have studied aqueous micellar solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate, butanol and sodium chloride. Due to the screening of electrostatic repulsive forces by the ionic atmosphere and to the existence of attractive forces (possibly related to hydration) between the micelles, lower critical consolute points can be found in these mixtures. Our data from surface and bulk light scattering are in perfect agreement with the renormalization group theories for critical phenomena. Moreover, the critical region happens to be wider than that predicted by the decorated Ising models used to describe lower critical consolute points