The spatial fluctuations of the dynamics of a colloidal system composed of nanoparticles are probed by a novel experimental setup, which combines homodyne and heterodyne dynamic light scattering focused onto a micron-sized volume via a microscope objective. The technique is used to measure the four-point susceptibility of an aging colloidal suspension, revealing a breakdown of the Gaussian approximation for the correlation function of the scattered electromagnetic field. The deviation from the Gaussian approximation increases with waiting time as the system evolves toward an arrested phase, signaling the gradual emergence of higher-order nontrivial dynamic correlations.

• Received 14 January 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.097401