Experimental and numerical signatures of dynamical crossover in orientationally disordered crystals

By means of NMR experiment and MD computer simulation we investigate the dynamical properties of a chloroadamantane orientationally disordered crystal. We find a plastic-plastic dynamical transition at $T_{x} \simeq 330 $ K in the pico-nanosecond regime. It is interpreted as the rotational analogue of the Goldstein crossing temperature between quasi-free diffusion and activated regime predicted in liquids. Below Tx, NMR experimental data are well described by a Frenkel model corresponding to a strongly anisotropic motion. At higher temperatures, a drastic deviation is observed toward quasi-isotropic rotational diffusion. We show also that two-step relaxations emerge close to Tx which probably does not correspond to the $T_\ab{c}$ of the Mode Coupling Theory. An interpretation which is based on the present study of a specific heat anomaly detected by a recent calorimetric experiment is proposed