Structural relaxation in 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol studied by dielectric and Kerr-effect techniques

Abstract

Dielectric and dynamic Kerr-effect studies have been made on 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol over a range of frequency (or time) and temperature. The characteristics of the relaxations observed by the two techniques are compared and are found to be very similar. It is suggested that both the dielectric and Kerr-effect relaxations arise from the wholly cooperative reorientation of dipolar groups, where the reorientation occurs through jumps of arbitrary size. The effects of angular correlations of dipoles within and between molecules, and the possible contribution of chemical relaxation are considered.