title: Solvent response and dielectric relaxation in supercooled butyronitrile.
abstract: We have measured the dynamics of solvation of a triplet state probe, quinoxaline, in the glass-forming dipolar liquid butyronitrile near its glass transition temperature T(g)=95 K. The Stokes shift correlation function displays a relaxation time dispersion of considerable magnitude and the optical linewidth changes along the solvation coordinate in a nonmonotonic fashion. These features are characteristic of solvation in viscous solvents and clearly indicate heterogeneous dynamics, i.e., spatially distinct solvent response times. Using the dielectric relaxation data of viscous butyronitrile as input, a microscopic model of dipolar solvation captures the relaxation time, the relaxation dispersion, and the amplitude of the dynamical Stokes shift remarkably well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Kalyan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duvvuri
authors.forename: Dmitry V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Matyushov
authors.forename: Ranko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Richert