title: Long-range orientation correlation in water.
abstract: Strong short-range intermolecular interactions result in position and orientation correlations between nearest neighbour molecules in isotropic liquids, but it is generally assumed that such correlations extend at most a few molecular diameters. Results from second-harmonic light scattering experiments presented here reveal long-range molecular orientation correlations in liquid water, where the molecular dipole orientation distribution has the form of a nearly pure transverse vector field. Spatial scales in the range 200-2000 nm are probed by the angle-dependent measurements and the observed correlations are thought to result from rotation-translation coupling in acoustic phonons in the liquid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-4002, USA.
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Shelton