Birefringence and dielectric relaxation decay transients and anisotropic rotational diffusion of macromolecules in a strong external electric field.

The decay transient response of polar and polarizable rigid bodies (macromolecules) diluted in a nonpolar solvent after a sudden switch-off of a strong external dc field is evaluated in the context of the anisotropic noninertial rotational diffusion model. On solving the differential-recurrence equations for the statistical moments (expectation values of Wigner's D functions), the decay transients of the birefringence and dielectric relaxation are obtained. The solutions (valid for arbitrary strengths of an external electric field) are given in a closed form suitable for comparison with experiment and Brownian dynamics simulations.