Experimental observation of a nearly logarithmic decay of the orientational correlation function in supercooled liquids on the picosecond-to-nanosecond time scales

Dynamics of five supercooled molecular liquids have been studied using optical heterodyne detected optical Kerr effect experiments. "Intermediate" time scale power law decays (similar to2 ps to 1-10 ns) with temperature independent exponents close to -1 have been observed in all five samples from high temperature to similar toT(c), the mode-coupling theory (MCT) critical temperature. The amplitude of the intermediate power law increases with temperature as [(T-T-c)/T-c](1/2). The results cannot be explained by standard MCT, and one possible explanation within MCT would require the higher order singularity scenario, thought to be highly improbable, to be virtually universal.