TIME-RESOLVED OPTICAL KERR-EFFECT IN A FRAGILE GLASS-FORMING LIQUID, SALOL

We report an optical Kerr effect experiment, performed on liquid and s upercooled liquid salol, in order to test some predictions of the mode -coupling theory of the liquid-glass transition. We show that this exp eriment is sensitive mostly to the reorientational motion of the molec ules and the corresponding correlation function exhibits, above the cr itical temperature T-C, a von Schweidler relaxation followed by an alp ha relaxation regime. The critical temperature and the critical expone nt derived from the analysis of the experiment are in good agreement w ith the same quantities previously determined, in the frequency domain , through a depolarized light-scattering experiment, by Li et al. [Phy s. Rev. B 46, 3343 (1992)]. [S1063-651X(98)04702-3].