We report structural, caloric, and dielectric properties of polymer blends of poly(vinylidenefluoride–trifluoroethylene–chlorofluoroethylene) terpolymer (a member of the relaxor polymers family that exhibits fast response speeds, giant electrostriction, high electric energy density, and large electrocaloric effect) and poly(vinylidenefluoride–chlorotrifluoroethylene) copolymer, developed on alu...

Dipolar molecular crystals present different physical properties from traditionally strongly correlated ionic solid-state inorganic crystals due to the weak intermolecular bonding. Herein, centrosymmetric dipolar molecular crystals of the organoruthenium complex trans-[Ru(C≡CC6H4-4-NO2)(C≡CPh)(dppe)2] [dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane] display a large electric-field-induced strain behavi...

We review recent advances in the methodology of pulsed time-resolved photoacoustics and its application to studies of photosynthetic reaction centers and membrane receptors such as the G protein-coupled receptor rhodopsin. The experimental parameters accessible to photoacoustics include molecular volume change and photoreaction enthalpy change. Light-driven volume change secondary to protein co...

We report experimental results of using an f/5 , cascaded-focus optical geometry for a high-dynamic-range optical limiter. The device consists of a 2-cm-thick CS(2) cell at the first focus and a reverse saturable-absorber dye in a thin cell (0.1 mm) at the second focus. The strong self-focusing in the CS(2) that is due to the ac Kerr effect and electrostriction keeps the energy at the second ce...

Biomembranes are thin capacitors with the unique feature of displaying phase transitions in a physiologically relevant regime. We investigate the voltage and lateral pressure dependence of their capacitance close to their chain melting transition. Because the gel and the fluid membrane have different area and thickness, the capacitance of the two membrane phases is different. In the presence of...

Optical gap solitons, which exist due to a balance of nonlinearity and dispersion due to a Bragg grating, can couple to acoustic waves through electrostriction. This gives rise to a new species of "gap-acoustic" solitons (GASs), for which we find exact analytic solutions. The GAS consists of an optical pulse similar to the optical gap soliton, dressed by an accompanying phonon pulse. Close to t...

Phase inhomogeneity of otherwise chemically homogenous electronic systems is an essential ingredient leading to fascinating functional properties, such as high-Tc superconductivity in cuprates, colossal magnetoresistance in manganites and giant electrostriction in relaxors. In these materials distinct phases compete and can coexist owing to intertwined ordered parameters. Charge degrees of free...