Nuclear spin-spin relaxation of isotopic impurities in solid hydrogen

Abstract

We report systematic studies of the transverse nuclear spin-spin relaxation times ${\mathit{T}}_2$ of HD impurities in solid ${\mathrm{H}}_2$. The experimental results indicate three different temperature regimes: (1) an exponential temperature dependence at high temperatures, (2) a minimum in ${\mathit{T}}_2$ for 7 K<T<11 K, and (3) an approximately temperature-independent region for 1.5 K<T<7 K. The latter is attributed to the quantum diffusion of the impurities at low temperatures. At very low temperatures (0.10 K<T<1.5 K), ${\mathit{T}}_2$ increases approximately linearly with temperature. This is attributed to the formation of bound ortho-${\mathrm{H}}_2$ pairs. The behavior in the intermediate-temperature regime is analyzed in terms of vacancy-impurity scattering with quantum tunneling of vacancies.