A new light scattering instrument is described for measuring, as a function of scattering angle, the elements of the matrix describing light scattered from small particle systems. The instrument uses a piezo‐optical birefringence modulator to modulate the polarization state of the incident light beam, and uses lock‐in amplifier detection of the scattered light. The first and second harmonics of the modulation frequency are used with various combinations of filters and orientations to give the separate matrix elements. A treatment of a simple scattering experiment by means of Mueller calculus is carried through to illustrate the interactions of the light with the scattering system and with the various components of the measuring instrument. Evaluation of the instrumental performance is shown through measurements on two systems of monodisperse polystyrene spheres of average radius 550 and 3940 Å, compared with Mie calculations. Further measurements on sulfur colloids are presented, and suggestions of the value of this type of instrument in future work are given.