New Paradigm for Investigation of Soft Matter

Abstract
In the course of a century, investigations of anisotropic molecular media have been conducting in the framework of a «gamma = const» paradigm, expressing the independence of the molecular polarizability «gamma» tensor on the phase state and structural ordering of the media. Nonphysical consequences from optical and spectral data for the soft-matter objects obtained in the framework of this paradigm showed its inadequacy. A new paradigm presented in this work is based on the stringent constraints imposed on the «gamma» tensor by the structural peculiarities of the medium and by intermolecular interactions. It also includes a new method of determining the local-field parameters for the media from experimental data without a priori assumptions about unobservable molecular parameters. The results of the investigation of soft-matter objects in the framework of the new paradigm are presented.

Keywords: structure and properties of soft matter