Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy measures the difference in absorption of left and right circularly polarized light due to structural asymmetry in a sample. An ordered structure will result in a CD spectrum with both positive and negative signals, while a disordered structure will have no signal. CD plots molar ellipticity versus wavelength and provides information about secondary structure. It is related to but distinct from optical rotary dispersion, which plots optical rotation versus wavelength and is based on differences in refractive index. Proper sample preparation is important to obtain clear CD spectra, with minimal contaminants, buffers, or other additives that could interfere with the protein signal.