On the magnetic field dependence of nuclear spin relaxation (NRS) on surfaces

Abstract

We have measured the nuclear spin relaxation rate for nuclear spin polarized7Li atoms adsorbed on a hot O-W(110) surface and found that it increases as the magnetic field strength approaches zero. The trend of the nuclear spin relaxation rate generally agrees with a logarithmic divergence, a consequence of the correlation function for two-dimensional diffusion. In principle, such experiments yield information on absolute values of diffusion rates for the adsorbed atoms.