Macroscopic polarization, dielectric spectroscopy

This chapter concentrates on the results of DS study of the structure, dynamics, and macroscopic behavior of complex materials. First, we present an introduction to the basic concepts of dielectric polarization in static and time-dependent fields, before the dielectric spectroscopy technique itself is reviewed for both frequency and time domains. This part has three sections, namely, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, time-domain dielectric spectroscopy, and a section where different aspects of data treatment and fitting routines are discussed in detail. Then, some examples of dielectric responses observed in various disordered materials are presented. Finally, we will consider the experimental evidence of non-Debye dielectric responses in several complex disordered systems such as microemulsions, porous glasses, porous silicon, H-bonding liquids, aqueous solutions of polymers, and composite materials. 

Also the question How polar are ionic liquids has been addressed by many methods that previously have been used to characterize the polarity of common molecular solvents. The macroscopic constant, generally used by the chemists to evaluate the solvent power of a molecular liquid, the dielectric constant, has been evaluated in the case of ILs initially using indirect metliods. and more recently by microwave dielectric spectroscopy. Generally, the values found for the investigated ILs are moderate and, at least those obtained by microwave dielectric spectroscopy, insignificantly affected by the IL structure. 

Dielectric spectroscopy, in the context of this system, deals with the interaction of an applied alternating electric field with the orientable dipoles in matter that account for polarizability. Macroscopic polarization is microsopically related to the dipole density of N permanent molecular dipoles of moment in a volume F. In low molecular weight molecules, the net dipole moment can... 

The dielectric constant is a macroscopic property of the material and arises from collective effects where each part of the ensemble contributes. In terms of a set of molecules it is necessary to consider the microscopic properties such as the polarizability and the dipole moment. A single molecule can be modeled as a distribution of charges in space or as the spatial distribution of a polarization field. This polarization field can be expanded in its moments, which results in the multipole expansion with dipolar, quadrupolar, octopolar and so on terms. In most cases the expansion can be truncated to the first term, which is known as the dipole approximation. Since the dipole moment is an observable, it can be described mathematically as an operator. The dipole moment operator can describe transitions between states (as the transition dipole moment operator and, as such, is important in spectroscopy) or within a state where it represents the associated dipole moment. This operator describes the interaction between a molecule and its environment and, as a result, our understanding of energy transfer. 

Fluctuations in the dielectric properties near the interface lead to scattering of the EW as well as changes in the intensity of the internally reflected wave. Changes in optical absorption can be detected in the internally reflected beam and lead to the well-known technique of attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy (ATR). Changes in the real part of the dielectric function lead to scattering, which is the main topic of this review. Polarization of the incident beam is important. For s polarization (electric field vector perpendicular to the plane defined by the incident and reflected beams or parallel to the interface), there is no electric held component normal to the interface, and the electric field is continuous across the interface. For p polarization (electric field vector parallel to the plane defined by the incident and reflected beams), there is a finite electric field component normal to the interface. In macroscopic electrodynamics this normal component is discontinuous across the interface, and the discontinuity is related to the induced surface charge at the interface. Such discontinuity is unphysical on the molecular scale [4], and the macroscopic formalism may have to be re-examined if it is applied to molecules within a few A of the interface. 

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