Fast dynamics in glass-forming salol investigated by dielectric spectroscopy

Abstract We analyze dielectric-loss spectra of glass forming salol extending up to 400 GHz allowing for the detection of the high-frequency minimum, where the fast critical dynamics predicted by the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition should prevail. Indeed, we find such a minimum which, moreover, well fulfills the critical scaling predicted by the theory. This includes the spectral shape of the minimum, the critical temperature dependence of the minimum frequency and amplitude, and the critical temperature dependence of the α-relaxation rate at high temperatures. The minimum exponents a and b leading to a system parameter λ ≈ 0.63 and the critical temperature Tc = 256 K are all in reasonable agreement with previous investigations of salol using different methods. Salol was one of the first materials where mode-coupling theory was tested and initial dielectric measurements were taken as an argument against the universal applicability of this theory.