On the origin of the heterogeneous orientation dynamics of semiflexible polymers in solutions.

Collective rotational motion in nondilute isotropic solutions of semirigid chains is sensitively probed by depolarized light scattering over a broad time range. The bimodal shape and the peculiar dependence of the orientational relaxation function on the scattering angle might arise from the coupling between orientational and shear modes of molecular motion (P.G. de Gennes, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 12, 193 (1971)). The dynamic heterogeneity, i.e. the separation of the time scales and the shape of the relaxation functions appears to be system specific.