Critical slowing down of fluctuations in squaric acid (H2C4O4) at the phase transition observed by 13C spin-lattice relaxation

Spin lattice relaxation T₁ of naturally abundant ¹³C nuclei in squaric acid was measured close to the antiferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition temperature T_c = 373 K. A rapid increase in $\text{1}\text{T}{}_1$ is observed close to T_c coming from above, which follows the power law $\text{1}\text{T}{}_1\text{～ ε}{}^{\mathrm{?1.4}}$ where $\text{ε =}\text{(T ? T}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{)}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$. This behaviour is explained on the basis of the two-dimensional character of the fluctuations.