Electric Polarisability of Rigid Polyelectrolytes

Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolecules C.N.R.S., 67083 Strasbourg, Cedex, France 

Aqueous solutions of polyelectrolytes present a very large dielectric increment which has been recognized as originating from the polarisation of the counter-ion atmosphere. By definition, the polarizability a is linked to the partition function Q of the system through [1]. 

Eric Silegny (ed.), Poly electrolytes, 277—284. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 1974 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland. 

Several optical phenomena can be used to detect the degree of orientation attained under the effect of an electric field  

For a rigid particle with an optical anisotropy per unit volume ( 1— 2) electrical anisotropy a n — the limiting birefringence induced by an hydrodynamic field and an electric field are respectively given by  

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