Slow processes in supercooled o-terphenyl: relaxation and decoupling.

ABSTRACT

We mapped the relaxation times of inter- and intramolecular correlations in o-terphenyl by a quasielastic scattering method using nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation. From the obtained map, we found that the slow ß process is decoupled from the α process at 278 K, and this temperature is clearly below the previous decoupling temperature of 290 K, at which the α-relaxation dynamics changes. Then, it was also concluded that sufficient solidlike condition achieved by further cooling from 290 K is required to decouple the slow ß process from the α process and, due to the difference of the length scales between the α and the slow ß processes, these two averaged relaxation times <τ> are concluded not to cross as an extrapolation assumed so far. Furthermore, evidence of the restricted dynamics of the slow ß process could be obtained as an anomalous momentum transfer (q) dependence of <τ>(<τ> ∝q(-2.9)) at 265 K, observed at q values of 18-48 nm(-1).