The investigation of liquid properties is as old as the human desire to observe natural phenomena. The paramount relevance of such state of matter is - vious, spanning from the basic theoretical model of random systems to the more advanced technical applications. Nevertheless the interpretation and - derstanding of liquid properties remains a challenge in materials science. In the liquid state, the potential and kinetic energies are characterized by similarvalues,differentlyfromthegasorsolid/crystalphases.Thisfundamental physical property prevents a description of the liquid structure independently fromitsdynamics.Theintermolecularforcesandmolecularmotionsarestrictly interconnected, producing the peculiar features of liquid phases. In particular when the intermolecular potential is characterized by speci?c features,asanisotropicand/orlong-rangeinteractions,theliquidstateshows- cal dynamic aggregation and structuring phenomena. This is the distinguishing characteristic of complex liquids. Typical examples are the hydrogen-bonded liquids, glass formers, polymers and liquid crystals. Also relatively simple molecular liquids, e.g., CS and benzene, clearly show complex dynamics, 2 evidence of local structuring effects. During the last years, researchers have undertaken a steady effort to improve the knowledge of liquid matter, both from experimental and theoretical points of view. New spectroscopic techniques, based on nonlinear optical phenomena, have been realized and applied to the study of simple molecular liquids. On the other hand, standard experiments have been applied to liquids characterized by particularly complex dynamic processes.

Time-Resolved Spectroscopy in Complex Liquids introduces the experimental researchers, the "screwdriver scientists", to state-of-the-art techniques in the study of the dynamics of complex liquids. The book's contributors concentrate on time-resolved optical spectroscopy, which recently produced many relevant results and new information about complex liquids. This is an emerging topic of soft-matter science, studying the innovative phenomena appearing in molecular liquids when a process of strong intermolecular interaction takes place. The contributors stress the experimental aspects, even the simple ones. This book succeeds in the full description of the "experimental procedure", overcoming the often-occurring break between "introduction" and the "results discussion".

Two Dimensional Fifth-Order Raman Spectroscopy.- Optical Kerr Effect Experiments on Complex Liquids.- Transient Grating Experiments in Glass-Former Liquids.- Dynamical Processes in Confined Liquid Crystals.- Time-Resolved Fluorescence and Dichroism in Absorbing Liquids.