Molecular dynamics in a nematic liquid crystal probed by implanted muons

We present the first muon spin rotation/relaxation study of a nematic liquid crystal (5CB). We identify four different positions for muonium addition to this compound by correlating the dominant peaks in the Fourier transform of the muon precession signal obtained in an applied transverse magnetic field. Experiments performed in a longitudinal field are used to probe changes in individual molecular dynamics at the solid-nematic transition. High field avoided level crossing spectroscopy reveals four DeltaM = 0 transitions which can be fitted using simplified models of collective molecular dynamics appropriate to the solid, nematic, and liquid phases.