Nature of the Debye-Process in Monohydroxy Alcohols: 5-Methyl-2-Hexanol Investigated by Depolarized Light Scattering and Dielectric Spectroscopy

The slow Debye-like relaxation in the dielectric spectra of monohydroxy alcohols is a matter of long-standing debate. In the present Letter, we probe reorientational dynamics of 5-methyl-2-hexanol with dielectric spectroscopy and depolarized dynamic light scattering (DDLS) in the supercooled regime. While in a previous study of a primary alcohol no indication of the Debye peak in the DDLS spectra was found, we now for the first time report clear evidence of a Debye contribution in a monoalcohol in DDLS. A quantitative comparison between the dielectric and DDLS manifestation of the Debye peak reveals that while the dielectric Debye process represents fluctuations in the end-to-end vector dipole moment of the transient chains, its occurrence in DDLS shows a more local signature and is related to residual correlations that occur due to a slight anisotropy of the a relaxation caused by the chain formation.