ELECTRIC BIREFRINGENCE IN SURFACTANT AND POLYELECTROLYTE SOLUTIONS - FOURIER RELATIONS BETWEEN TRANSIENT AND FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT MEASUREMENTS

The time-dependent electric birefringence signals observed in response to electric field pulses are governed by the reorientational dynamics of molecular agregates. These processes may also be probed by oscillating electric fields, which give rise to a static and an alternating component of the induced birefringence. As the amplitude and phase of the latter component are proportional to the frequency response of the chemical system, Fourier relations can be used to predict the transient response to field pulses from the frequency-dependent data. The validity of this concept is tested by comparison with experimental data for semidilute and concentrated solutions of the two-chain cationic surfactant hexadecyl-octyl-dimethyl-ammonium bromide.