Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 189, 223-229 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2010-01326-8

Regular Article

Confinement effects in bulk supercooled liquids

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA

Received: 1 September 2010
Revised: 14 September 2010
Published online: 12 November 2010

Abstract

Supercooled liquids are known to display heterogeneous dynamics, with slow and fast relaxation modes being independent and even spatially separated in dynamically distinct domains. In such a situation, it is imaginable that the very fast modes are surrounded by material that is practically frozen on the relaxation time scale of that fast mode. Here, we show experimental evidence of such a confinement effect. For the fastest few percent of all modes, equilibration appears to be linked to a common process (e.g. macroscopic softening), while the remaining majority equilibrate on the time scale of their individual time constant, as expected for heterogeneous dynamics.