Non-diffusive dynamics in a colloidal glass: aging versus rejuvenation

Abstract: The microscopic dynamics of spontaneously aged and rejuvenated glassy Laponite is investigated through X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. Two different behaviours of the intensity autocorrelation functions are observed depending on the history of the sample: stretched for spontaneously aged samples and samples rejuvenated from a Wigner glass and compressed, typical of anomalous dynamics, for samples rejuvenated from a DHOC glass. The relaxation time behaviour in the three cases indicates a non-diffusive dynamics of the particles. The present system offers therefore an overview of various dynamical behaviours previously observed individually in several systems and the possibility to pass from one to the other choosing ad hoc the time parameter.