Reorientation dynamics in thin glassy films

• Main Authors: Cecchetto, Elio, Moroni, Daniele, Jerome, Blandine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 26-02-2004
• Subjects: Physics - Disordered Systems and Neural Networks; Physics - Soft Condensed Matter
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0402656

We present a study of orientational relaxation dynamics in thin films of a
low-molecular-weight glass-former as a function of temperature and film
thickness. The relaxation is probed by second-harmonic generation after release
of a poling electric field. From the measured decays of the second-harmonic
signal and their fitting with a stretched exponential, we can determine the
distribution of relaxation times in the system. As temperature decreases from
above the glass transition, we observe that the width of the distribution first
increases under confinement, but that deeper in the glassy state, confinement
has no effect anymore on the dynamics.