0000000001035065
AUTHOR
O. Debus
Secondary relaxation in the glass-transition regime of ortho-terphenyl observed by incoherent neutron scattering.
We report on incoherent-neutron-scattering measurements in the supercooled regime of the van der Waals liquid ortho-terphenyl. A secondary localized relaxational process on the picosecond time scale is found. In accordance with mode-coupling theories of the glass transition, the relaxational dynamics around a critical temperature ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ decomposes into two time regimes.
Dynamic Anomalies and their Relation to the Glass Transition: A Neutron Scattering Study of the Glass Forming Van der Waals Liquid Ortho-terphenyl
Neutron scattering experiments on the molecular glass former ortho-terphenyl reveal a dynamic anomaly at a temperature Tc ≈ 290 K well above the calorimetric glass temperature Tg = 243 K. Close above Tc the density autocorrelation function ΦQ(t) shows a two step decay over 4–5 decades in time. The slower component obeys the time-temperature superposition principle. Its line shape can be well parametrized by a Kohlrausch law and is strongly temperature dependent as its relaxation time scales with the shear viscosity. Thus this component is identified with the structural relaxation (α-process). The faster component (β-process) is much less temperature dependent. Its line shape factorizes in a…