Investigation of nonlinear effects in glassy matter using dielectric methods

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy of glassy materials, highlighting experimental techniques, mechanisms, and results on various glass-forming substances, including supercooled liquids and crystals.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of nonlinear dielectric responses in glassy matter, focusing on high-field permittivity and higher-order susceptibilities in different glassy systems.

Findings

Nonlinear dielectric response reveals mechanisms of glassy dynamics.

Higher-order susceptibilities characterize complex relaxation processes.

Experimental results on supercooled liquids and crystals demonstrate diverse nonlinear behaviors.

Abstract

We summarize current developments in the investigation of glassy matter using nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy. This work also provides a brief introduction into the phenomenology of the linear dielectric response of glass-forming materials and discusses the main mechanisms that can give rise to nonlinear dielectric response in this material class. Here we mainly concentrate on measurements of the conventional dielectric permittivity at high fields and the higher-order susceptibilities characterizing the 3-omega and 5-omega components of the dielectric response as performed in our group. Typical results on canonical glass-forming liquids and orientationally disordered plastic crystals are discussed, also treating the special case of supercooled monohydroxy alcohols.