Depolarized dynamic light scattering studies of ortho-terphenyl dynamics above T g

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Depolarized Rayleigh spectra of ortho‐terphenyl (OTP) were measured in the temperature range from Tg to Tg+190 K. Two samples prepared with and without ‘‘clusters’’ were used for the measurement. Four different Fabry–Perot interferometers covering the time range from about 0.5 ps to 100 ns were employed. Two relaxation modes were observed: a slow mode with all its characteristics of the α process, and a fast mode with a constant, temperature independent relaxation time of about 3 ps. The fast mode has not been reported heretofore. The intensity of the fast mode vanishes at about the Vogel–Fulcher–Tamman temperature T0. The relaxation times of these two processes are found to be identical for both OTP with and without clusters. The temperature dependence of the relaxation time of the α process is Arrhenius at high temperatures, but shows a Williams–Landel–Ferry (WLF) behavior in the range from Tg to Tg+80 K for both samples with and without the long‐range density fluctuations (i.e., cluster).

This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit: