Spin-lattice relaxation of deuterated methyl groups: Implications of the pauli principle

The high-field spin-lattice relaxation of deuterated methyl groups undergoing rotational tunneling is investigated theoretically. It is found that for systems showing a tunneling frequency comparable to accessible Larmor frequencies the relaxation to equilibrium of the Zeeman energy does not follow a simple exponential time dependence even in powdered samples due to a finite coupling to the relaxation of the tunneling system. This finding contrasts to the high-temperature behavior of reorienting methyl groups which undergo simple exponential relaxation. The nonexponentiality has its origin in the statistical coupling of the three deuteron spins due to the Pauli principle.