Dynamic light scattering study of the liquid <--> glass transition for the GdCl3-3AlCl3 glass-forming mixture

The dynamics of density and orientation fluctuations for a member of a family of inorganic glass-forming molten salts based on rare-earth halide-aluminum halide mixtures, namely, the GdCl3-3AlCl3, has been investigated in the supercooled state by means of dynamic light scattering. The temperature dependence of the structural relaxation time near the glass transition temperature was found to be rather strong, indicating the "fragile" character of this liquid. The microscopic origin of the structural relaxation has been rationalized by employing structural information that has been independently extracted from other spectroscopic techniques.