Compressed exponential decays in correlation experiments: The influence of temperature gradients and convection

In a wide range of soft materials, correlation experiments using laser light or partially coherent X-rays report the so called compressed exponential correlation functions, i. e., decays c(t) proportional to exp(-(t/tau)(beta)) with beta > 1. In many cases, this is related to the relaxation of inner stresses, but in some systems, the source of such a phenomenon is still poorly understood. We performed multi speckle-dynamic light scattering experiments in a system of polystyrene spheres in supercooled propanediol. At low temperatures, compressed exponential decays are observed in a multispeckle experiment, in agreement with the literature findings in similar systems. At the same time, due to the particular geometry of our setup, the speckle pattern shows indication for convection in the sample due to a slight temperature gradient across the sample cuvette mounted in a cold finger cryostat. These effects increase with decreasing temperature and after a temperature jump. In some cases it can be corrected for by assuming convective flow at constant velocity. Such corrections reduce or remove compressed exponential behavior in our experiment. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.