Dielectric responses in disordered systems: From molecules to materials

With many current technologies, non-crystalline materials are required to perform on increasingly limited spatial scales approaching several 10 nm. The dynamics of molecules are an important aspect of disordered materials as they define the glass transition. Dielectric relaxation techniques are capable of observing the dynamics in glass-forming systems across 18 orders of magnitude, but the typical experimental approaches address macroscopic effects in bulk samples. Here, we explore the various possibilities of applying dielectric relaxation and related techniques in order to gain insight into the dynamics on a nanoscopic or even molecular level.