Anisotropic motion of toluene above and below the glass transition studied by 2H NMR

Abstract 2 H nuclear magnetic resonance spin-lattice relaxation experiments on two selectively deuterated toluene molecules have been performed over a wide temperature range, spanning liquid and glassy states, to examine anisotropic molecular dynamics. In the liquid regime, the relaxation data are analyzed by the model of anisotropic rotational diffusion. A more phenomenological ansatz is used for the whole temperature regime to obtain information about anisotropic reorientation and its temperature dependence. We find that the anisotropy is reduced in the supercooled state and the motion becomes approximately isotropic below 140 K which is interpreted as the onset of cooperative reorientati…

Amorphous polymorphis in ice investigated by inelastic neutron scattering

Abstract High-density Ilda and low-density Ilda amorphous have been investigated by inelastic neutron scattering (INS) with emphasis on the energy window from 0.5 to 20 meV. At variance with earlier measurements the spectra in the Ilda phase show a simple ω2 behaviour in the acoustic region and the temperature dependence is found to be harmonic. Ilda converts with a strongly temperature-dependent rate towards Ilda ice. We have investigated in detail the time evolution of both the static and dynamic response functions at several temperatures. Elastic small-angle signals indicate the presence of strong heterogeneties at the early stages of the conversion process. At least two different time s…

Self-diffusion coefficients in plastic crystals by multiple-pulse NMR in large static field gradients.

Measurements of self-diffusion coefficients in solids with the gradient spin echo technique have until now been limited due to short spin-spin relaxation times. Here we make use of multiple-pulse sequences, which average out the nuclear dipole interaction, to expand the measurable range for macroscopic self-diffusion coefficients by 2 orders of magnitude. By combining multiple-pulse NMR, in our case using the MREV-8 sequence, with a high static gradient we measured the self-diffusion coefficient in a molecular crystal of camphene down to a value of $D\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}{\mathrm{s}}^{\en…

Nachruf auf Gerald Fleischer

2H NMR Time Domain Analysis of Ultraslow Reorientations in Supercooled Liquids

A method for evaluating 2H NMR stimulated echo experiments in the time domain is presented. It exhibits a high sensitivity to molecular reorientation mechanisms for small angles. Reorientations with jump angles below 25degrees can be resolved with a precision of approximately 1degrees so that, e.g., rotational diffusion and finite jump angle mechanisms become distinguishable. The method, applicable to isotropic reorientation models, is thought to extend the domain of 2D exchange spectroscopy where the best resolution is obtained in the large angle range of anisotropic reorientational mechanisms. Application to reorientation in the supercooled melt of ortho-terphenyl is presented. These data…