Coupling and decoupling between translational and rotational dynamics in supercooled monodisperse soft Janus particles

Abstract

We perform dynamics simulations to investigate the translational and rotational glassy dynamics in a glass-forming liquid of monodisperse soft Janus particles. We find that, with decreasing temperature, the mean-square angular displacement shows no clear plateau in the caging region, in contrast with the apparent caging behavior of translational motion. By defining a reorientational mean-square angular displacement, the caging behavior of rotational motion can be recognized. On approaching the glass transition (decreasing temperature), the coupling between translational and rotational relaxation increases, while the coupling between translational and rotational diffusion decreases, whereas the coupling between translational and reorientational diffusion increases. The strong decoupling between translational and rotational diffusion is due to the suppressed translational mobility but promoted rotational mobility of soft Janus particles. We think that the low-T SE and SED decoupling is mainly attributed to hopping motion of soft Janus particles, whereas the high-T SE and SED decoupling is mainly attributed to collective cage motion of soft Janus particles. Our results demonstrate that interaction anisotropy has a critical effect on the translational and rotational dynamics of soft Janus particles.