Cosmology, together with cosmological and astrophysical observations of ever increasing precision, represents a unique opportunity to study physics at energies far beyond the reach of terrestrial laboratories. In particular, observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation supports the idea for an early phase of accelerated expansion called inflation. While the simplest inflationary models provide a consistent theoretical framework in explaining observational data, we are yet to understand the microscopic details of the inflationary dynamics, the process of how the inflation ends and how the evolution in the post-inflationary era proceeds. In this dissertation, we will explore observational consequences of well-motivated scenarios ...