Temperature dependence of nuclear spin coherence in e u3+: Y2Si O5

Abstract

We have measured the temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation and dephasing of the two nuclear quadrupole transitions in the 7F0 ground state of Eu151 in yttrium orthosilicate up to 21 K. Spin-lattice relaxation (T1) is dominated by an Orbach process and decoherence comes from Y87 nuclear spin fluctuations at low temperatures and is T1 limited at higher temperatures. The different contributions to relaxation and dephasing are evaluated.