Nuclear magnetic relaxation in small nematic droplets induced by molecular self-diffusion

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Abstract
Nuclear magnetic relaxation caused by self-diffusion induced modulation of the intramolecular nuclear interactions in nematic liquid crystal droplets embedded in a solid polymer matrix is analyzed in order to show when it allows the determination of the structure of such confined systems. Both the frequency and temperature dependences of the relaxation rates T−11 and T−11ρ are calculated for radial and bipolar nematic droplet structures. Special attention is given to the effect of the boundary layer nematic phase. Translationally induced modulation is in most cases an effective relaxation mechanism only in the low frequency range (<MHz for micronsize droplets). The available experimental rotating-frame relaxation data are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions.