Transient electro-optics of organized assemblies

Recent results obtained by the use of electric field- and laser-induced transient birefringence and light scattering techniques are summarized on the dynamic behavior of reverse micelles, water-in-oil microemulsions, surfactant crystallites and unilamellar bilayer vesicles. In birefringence experiments, in general, the importance of examining and separating the contribution of field-induced turbidity to the birefringence signal is emphasized. The relaxation response of the systems on the nanosecond to millisecond timescale provides information about the structure of the aggregates and details of their field-induced deformation, reorientation and vectorial clustering, the kinetics of phase separation in microemulsions and the mechanism of electroporation of vesicles. The use of electroporation of vesicles for the preparation of ultra-small quantum dots (diameter <1 nm) is also reported.