Spin–lattice relaxation of Fe3+ in rutile for X- and F-band transitions
Detailed measurements of the angular and temperature dependence (1.6 °K to 4.2 °K) of the dominant spin–lattice relaxation rates of Fe3+ in rutile have been carried out for a number of strong transitions at 9.4 Gc and 121 Gc using the pulse saturation method. At 9.4 Gc, two relaxation time components were observed, ranging from 0.5 to 1.2 ms and 1.6 to 4.0 ms, respectively, at 4.2 °K. Assuming a relationship of the form log(relaxation time) = −n∙log(temperature), the temperature dependence factor n was found to be between 0.4 and 1.0. The single relaxation time resolved at F band had values from 0.7 to 1.0 ms at 4.2 °K, and n between 0.1 and 0.6. The corresponding relative relaxation rates were calculated from the direct process spin–phonon transition probabilities, assuming Debye elastic isotropy for rutile. Using a cubic spin–lattice coupling tensor, [Formula: see text] was found to be 0.5 and the rate equations for the six-level system were solved. The calculated effective relaxation times were successfully identified with the slower dominant relaxation component of the experimental data.