Investigation of solid surfaces by nuclear spin polarized alkali atoms

Abstract

Nuclear spin polarized alkali atom beams are used to investigate metal surfaces. The surface diffusion of the alkali atoms on the surface results in a randomly fluctuating electric field gradient. The relaxation is measured in dependence of the surface temperature. Using an additional external RF field, also NMR measurement can be performed. Besides some fluctuating components of the EFG which cause the relaxation process, there is also a static part of the EFG. This results in an energy splitting of the nuclear spin states and can be detected by the NMR experiments.