Paramagnetic relaxation in anisotropic materials in zero and weak constant fields

Abstract

Paramagnetic relaxation in strongly anisotropic materials is analytically investigated in zero and weak constant magnetic fields. The objectives of the microscopic analytical investigation are (i) the weak-field electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) linewidth and (ii) the electron spin relaxation rates given by a calorimetric Gorter type experiment in the zero constant field at the arbitrary low-frequency field directions, respectively, to the sample crystallographic axes. The EPR linewidth is calculated under the suggestion of its spin-phonon nature at the one-phonon mechanism of the spin-lattice relaxation in the case of the strong isotropic exchange interaction for the arbitrary direction Z of the constant magnetic field. The EPR linewidth is presented as the half sum of the zero-field relaxation rates, measured by the Gorter experiment with the low-frequency field oriented along the X, Y axes. With the help of the macroscopic consideration, it is shown that the zero-field relaxation rates describe the relaxation of the X and Y magnetization components in a zero or weak constant magnetic field. The relaxation rates of the magnetizations created along a,b,c crystallographic axes by a low-frequency field in a Gorter type experiment follow the obtained expressions in the particular cases and are in the experimentally confirmed relations with the EPR linewidth.