Comparison of the ultrafast to slow time scale dynamics of three liquid crystals in the isotropic phase

Abstract

The dynamics of three liquid crystals, 4′(pentyloxy)-4-biphenylcarbonitrile (5-OCB), 4′-pentyl-4-biphenylcarbonitrile (5-CB), and 1-isothiocyanato-(4-propylcyclohexyl)benzene (3-CHBT), are investigated from very short time (∼1 ps) to very long time (>100 ns) as a function of temperature using optical heterodyne detected optical Kerr effect experiments. For all three liquid crystals, the data decay exponentially only on the longest time scale (> several ns). The temperature dependence of the long time scale exponential decays is described well by the Landau–de Gennes theory of the randomization of pseudonematic domains that exist in the isotropic phase of liquid crystals near the isotropic to nematic phase transition. At short time, all three liquid crystals display power law decays. Over the full range of times, the data for all three liquid crystals are fit with a model function that contains a short time power law. The power law exponents for the three liquid crystals range between 0.63 and 0.76, and the power law exponents are temperature independent over a wide range of temperatures. Integration of the fitting function gives the empirical polarizability–polarizability (orientational) correlation function. A preliminary theoretical treatment of collective motions yields a correlation function that indicates that the data can decay as a power law at short times. The power law component of the decay reflects intradomain dynamics.