Complex liquids constitute a basic element in modern materials science; their significant features include self-assembly, mesoscale structures, complex dynamics, unusual phases and enormous sensitivity to perturbations. Understanding their nature and properties are a great challenge to modern materials science that demands novel approaches. This book focuses on nonlinear dielectric phenomena, particularly on nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy (NDS), which may be considered a possible successor to broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). NDS phenomena directly coupled to mesoscale heterogeneity fluctuations, so information obtained in this way is basically complementary to BDS tests. The book also discusses the application of NDS in a set of complex liquid systems: glassy liquids, liquid crystals, liquids with critical point phenomena, and bio-relevant liquids. The complementary application of NDS and BDS may allow the discovery of universal patterns for the whole category of complex liquids. Written by specialists in the field of nonlinear dielectric studies, theoreticians and experimentalists, ranging from solid state physics to biophysics, the book is organized so that it can serve as a basic textbook for a non-experienced reader.

Basics for nonlinear dielectric and related studies in liquids.- Anomalous Expressions for The Nonlinear Harmonic Components of the Electric Polarization.- Theory of Anomalous Dielectric Relaxation.- Rotational Brownian Motion and Nonlinear Dielectric Relaxation of Asymmetric Top Molecules in Strong Electric Fields: The Langevin Equation Approach.- Experimental Solutions for Nonlinear Dielectric Studies in Complex Liquids.- Comments on Nonlinear Dielectric Effect Measurements in Liquids.- Effect of Constraints on Electrostriction.- Douglas Kell Comments on 'Methodology' During the Workshop.- A New Technique of Dielectric Characterization of Liquids.- Nonlinear Dielectric Losses and Dynamics of Intrinsic Conductivity of Dielectrics.- Nonlinear dielectric and related problems in critical liquids.- Dielectric Properties of Critical Conducting Mixtures.- Nonlinear Dielectric Effect Behavior in a Critical and Near-Critical Binary Mixture.- Electric Field Effects Near Critical Points.- Critical Phenomena in Confined Binary Liquid Mixtures.- Model of The Critical Behavior of Real Systems.- The Methods of Prediction of the Properties for Substances on the Coexistence Curve Including Vicinity of the Critical Point.- Phase Equilibrium in Complex Liquids under Negative Pressure.- New Approaches to the Investigation of the Matastable and Reacting Fluids.- Nonlinear dielectric results for liquid crystalline materials.- The Discontinuity of the Isotropic - Masophase Transition in N-Cyanobiphenyls Homologous Series from 4CB to 14CB. Nonlinear Dielectric Effect (NDE) Studies.- Influence of Pressure on the Dielectric Properties of Liquid Crystals.- Frequency-Domain Nonlinear Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy.- Phase Behavior of Perturbed Liquid Crystals.- Edge Dislocations inSmectic-A Liquid Crystals.- Nonlinear dielectric and related studies for supercooled/superpressed and polymeric liquids.- A Schematic Description of the Dynamics of Glass Transition by the Coupling Model.- Transient Grating Experiments in Supercooled Liquids.- Medium-Range Ordering in Liquids Appearing in Nonlinear Dielectric Effect Studies.- The Cooperative Molecular Dynamics and Nonlinear Phenomena.- Annihilation Response of the Ortho - Positronium Probe from Positron Annihilation Lifeteme Spectroscopy and Its Relationships to the Free Volume and Dynamics of Glass - Forming Systems.- Influence of Molecular Structure on Dynamics of Secondary Relaxation in Phthalates.- Electrostriction and Crystalline Phase Transformations in a Vinylidene Flouride Terpolymer.- Nonlinear dielectric studies for biologically and environment relevant materials.- Self-Assembly and the Associated Dynamics in PBLG-PEG-PBLG Triblock Copolymers.- Nonlinear Dielectric Spectroscopy of Biological Systems: Principles ans Applications.- Measurement Method of Electric Birefringence Spectrum in Frequency Domain.- Melting/Freezing in Narrow Pores; Dielectric and EPR Studies.- Electrodilatometry of Liquids, Binary Liquids, and Surfactants.- Influence of Strong Electric Field on Dielectric Permittivity of Polycrystalline Ice Doped by Small Amounts of NAOH.- Host?Guest Interaction in ACF: EPR Study.