A Comparative Survey of the Physical Techniques Used in Studies of Molecular Dynamics

Abstract

Molecular motions in liquid-crystalline systems are studied with a variety of physical techniques. Each technique represents a distinct experimental approach and exploits a different molecular property. Moreover, the extraction of the information about molecular motion from the experimental observation is not straightforward and often involves a cumbersome theoretical analysis specific for the technique at hand. The question then arises as to how the results of different techniques can be compared and indeed whether the observations reflect the same motional phenomena. In this Chapter we attempt to provide a coherent framework for assessing the information about translational and orientational motions yielded by diverse experimental methods.