Measurement of the spin diffusion rate of dipolar order in single crystal calcium fluoride

This thesis reports on the first measurement of the spin diffusion rate of a two-spin correlated state, known as dipolar order, in a single crystal of calcium fluoride. The experimental results for the component of the spin diffusion rate parallel with the azimuthal axis are ... for the [001] direction and ... for the [111] direction. These rates are significantly faster than those for Zeeman order and are also faster than theories have predicted. The standard method of measuring diffusion in magnetic resonance is to encode a spatial modulation of magnetization in a sample and then measure it's attenuation over time. The difficulty in measuring spin diffusion in solid crystals by these scattering methods is that the spin diffusion rate is very slow (of order 1 x 10⁻¹² cm²/s) and hence the displacement of coherence is very small. The experimental challenge for probing these dynamics is that a modulation must be created with a wavelength on these length scales. To perform the measurement a special probe was developed with a gradient coil constant of 370±10.5[G/cmA]. A special holder was designed for holding the 1mm³ sample in addition to a gradient switcher for switching pulsed currents through the coil. The peak pulsed gradient strengths ranged from 28 to 85 T/m and the spatial wavelengths generated ranged from 1[mu] to 0.5 [mu]/tm.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Boutis, Gregory Steven, 1975-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David G. Cory.

• Nuclear Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30010

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/30010