DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2002-10084-2
Heterogeneous dynamics at the glass transition in van der Waals liquids: Determination of the characteristic scale
S. Merabia and D. LongLaboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université de Paris XI, Bât. 510, 91405 Orsay Cédex, France long@lps.u-psud.fr
(Received 29 March 2002 and Received in final form 11 November 2002 / Published online: 23 December 2002)
Abstract
Recent experiments have demonstrated that the
dynamics in liquids close to the glass transition temperature
is strongly heterogeneous. The characteristic size of these
heterogeneities has been measured to be a few nanometers at
.
We extend here a recent model for describing the heterogeneous
nature of the dynamics which allows both
to derive this length scale and the right orders of magnitude
of the heterogeneities of the dynamics close to the glass transition.
Our model allows then to interpret quantitatively small probes
diffusion experiments.
64.70.Pf - Glass transitions.
61.41.+e - Polymers, elastomers and plastics.
68.15.+e - Liquid thin films.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2002