Eur. Phys. J. B 17, 57-68 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510070160

Mechanical detection of nuclear spin relaxation in a micron-size crystal

¹ Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
² Physics Department, Kazan State University, Kazan, 420008, Russia

Received: 23 February 2000
Published online: 15 September 2000

Abstract

A room temperature nuclear magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM), fitted in a 1 tesla electromagnet, has been used to measure the nuclear spin relaxation of H in a micron-size (70 ng) crystal of ammonium sulfate. NMR sequences, combining both pulsed and continuous wave radio-frequency fields, have allowed us to measure mechanically T₂ and T₁, the transverse and longitudinal spin relaxation times. Because two spin species with different T₁ values are measured in our 7 μm thick crystal, magnetic resonance imaging of their spatial distribution inside the sample section have been performed. To understand quantitatively the measured signal, we carefully study the influence of spin-lattice relaxation and non-adiabaticity of the continuous-wave sequence on the intensity and time dependence of the detected signal.