Contribution of the technique of thermostimulated currents for the elucidation of the nature of the Johari-Goldstein and other secondary relaxations in the vitreous state

In this work the usefulness of the technique of thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC) to the study of the secondary relaxations in amorphous solids, and particularly of the Johari-Goldstein (JG) relaxation, is emphasized. The features of the JG relaxation are carefully analyzed, and the contribution of this experimental technique for the elucidation of its molecular mechanisms is also stressed.