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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Cooling Rate Dependent Ellipsometry Measurements to Determine the Dynamics of Thin Glassy Films
Published on: January 26, 2016
Measurement of effective temperatures in an aging colloidal glass
Nils Greinert1, Tiffany Wood, Paul Bartlett
1School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We study the thermal fluctuations of an optically confined probe particle, suspended in an aging colloidal suspension, as the suspension transforms from a viscous liquid into an elastic glass. The micron-sized bead forms a harmonic oscillator. By monitoring the equal-time fluctuations of the tracer, at two different laser powers we determine the temperature of the oscillator, T(o). In the ergodic liquid the temperatures of the oscillator and its environment are equal, while in contrast, in a nonequilibrium glassy phase we find that T(o) substantially exceeds the bath temperature.
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