Ordered systems exhibit physical properties and behavior unknown in media where structural ordering and organization do not take place. In ordered systems special correlations between molecules exist and the results are remarkable properties: the functional order of biological systems, the electrooptical and mechanical proper ties of liquid crystalline materials and stretched polymers are just a few examples. New methods and techniques in optical spectroscopy have recently been developed to study ordered systems and guest molecules. This stimulated the organization of a NATO Advanced Study Institute bringing together chemists and physicists from optical spectroscopy, materials science, and biology. Thereby a unifying and interdisciplinary survey of possible applications of spectroscopy with polarized light to ordered systems, such as liquid crystals, stretched polymers, polymeric liquid crystals, and membranes, was achieved. The interdisciplinary approach of the meeting is reflected in the book. Different aspects of the same topic are often treated in several chapters all through the book. Therefore, each reader should look for the contributions which serves his needs, even if this means that some chapters will be skipped. The Advanced Study Institute, "New Developments in Polarized Spectroscopy of Ordered Systems", was the first scientific event of the celebrations of the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna. The international and multidisciplinary approach of this ASI well converged in the tradition of the "Studium" at Bologna.

Inhalt

Spectroscopic Applications of Molecular Alignment.- Applications of IR and UV-Visible Linear Dichroism.- Order Parameters and Orientational Distributions in Liquid Crystals.- Molecular Alignment - Origin, Methods of Measurement, and Theoretical Description.- Liquid Crystal - Linear Dichroism Stereochemical Applications of Electronic State Assignments.- Linear Dichroism and Induced Circular Dichroism for Studying Structure and Interactions of DNA.- Extending Linear Dichroism Measurements into the Vacuum Ultraviolet for Improved Information Content.- Polarisation Properties in Infrared and Raman for the Study of Molecular Dynamics of Chain Molecules.- New Techniques for Aligning Molecules: Migrative Orientation.- Reactivity Control in Liquid Crystalline Ordered Systems: Orientational Information by Linear Dichroism.- Polarization Modulation Spectroscopy.- Why Does Sinusoidally Modulated Polarization Introduce a Systematic Error in Linear Dichroism Measurements? Analytical and Instrumental Solutions.- Differential Polarization Imaging.- Differential Polarization Imaging: Theory and Applications.- Theory of Absorption and Circular Dichroism of Large Inhomogeneous Molecular Aggregates.- The Effect of Anisotropic Properties of Randomly Oriented Particles on Polarized Light: an Operational Calculus for Spatially Heterogeneous Distributions.- Optical Activity of Oriented Molecules.- Fluorescence Depolarization in Liquid Crystals.- Angle-Resolved Techniques in Studies of Organic Molecules in Ordered Systems Using Polarized Light.- Some Aspects of Excited-State Probe Emission Spectroscopy for Structure and Dynamics of Model and Biological Membranes.