Computer simulation of molecular orientational order: the Kerr effect in carbon disulphide

We have performed a molecular dynamics computer simulation on the liquid state of the linear triatomic molecule, carbon disulphide. On the time-scale of a few picoseconds, the reorientation of these molecules in response to an external electric field has been followed explicitly. The failure of a classical orientational diffusion model to reproduce the results of the simulation is observed for high fields. A simple modification of the diffusion model is found to restore most of its qualitative predictive power.