Experimental evidence of nonexponential relaxation near the critical point of a supramolecular liquid mixture

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Abstract
We report precise measurements of the time correlation function in a pseudo two-component water-in-oil microemulsion system made of surfactant AOT, water, and decane close to its consolute critical point and percolation threshold. Systematic studies of the intensity correlation functions using a correlator with a logarithmic sampling time show sizable deviations from a single exponential decay. It is shown that an extension of the dynamic droplet model is able to account for the nonexponential behavior at intermediate and long times. The linewidth is in satisfactory agreement with the model, which also takes into account the finite size of the microemulsion droplets.