ChemInform Abstract: Relaxation Phenomena of a Triplet Spin Probe in Glassy and Crystalline o-Terphenyl.

The authors used quinoxaline in its photoexcited triplet state as a spin probe in order to measure the spin-lattice relaxation rate in o-terphenyl glass as a function of temperature. They found a power law with an exponent close to 2. Since o-terphenyl can easily be crystallized, they investigated the crystal, too. Below 3.5 K the spin is highly polarized, contrary to the behavior in the glass, where it reaches thermal equilibrium down to the lowest temperatures of their experiment (1.4 K). Around 3.5 K the polarization in the crystal vanishes. Above it appears with opposite sign due to thermal equilibration.