Quadrupole Interaction of Nuclei with Conduction Electrons

Abstract

The nuclear spin‐lattice relaxation time in metals is calculated taking into account the following three interactions between the nuclei and the conductions electrons: (1) the usual contact part of the hyperfine interaction, which is the dominant mechanism; (2) the noncontact part of the hyperfine interaction; (3) the quadrupole interaction for nuclei of spin I≥1. It is found that the latter two interactions are of the same order of magnitude. If the electronic wave function at the Fermi surface has a p‐wave component comparable with its s‐wave component, these two mechanisms may appreciably shorten the relaxation time as calculated using only the contact part of the hyperfine interaction.