Relaxation and deorientation of110Ag(T 1/2=24.4s) nuclei produced by capture of polarized neutrons in the silver halides

Polarized¹¹⁰Ag nuclei are produced in the silver halides by capture of polarized neutrons at temperatures below 30 K and magnetic field strengths up to 6 kOe. The depolarization process is studied by observation of the β decay asymmetry as a function of magnetic field, temperature and of the radio frequency field strength in NMR signals. The depolarization is caused by a field dependent deorientation process and by temperature dependent spin-lattice relaxation. The deorientation is due to a succession of coupling steps of the nuclear spin with electromagnetic fields of defects generated as a consequence of the capture process, and the field dependence of the polarization can be understood as a decoupling curve. The temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation is in accordance with the theory of quadrupolar relaxation above 18 K if an empirical phonon spectrum is used for the calculation. At lower temperatures the experimental relaxation rate is anomalously high, which may be due to resonance modes connected with recoil lattice defects.