Mesoscopic dynamics of laser-induced phase separation in water and 2-butoxyethanol mixtures revealed by nanosecond time-resolved light scattering

For the first time, we have succeeded in observing the dynamics of laser-induced phase separation in a water/2-butoxyethanol mixture by applying nanosecond time-resolved light scattering on a submicron scale. The scattering revealed that the domain size of the mixture during phase separation was almost constant at 300 nm for 10 μs after a laser T-jump, and the light scattering intensity increased exponentially with time. The results clearly indicate that the early stage of spinodal decomposition described by CahnHilliard theory occurred in the mixture for 10 μs.