Eur. Phys. J. D (2017) 71: 70
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2017-70642-8

Regular Article

Phonon-mediated nuclear spin relaxation in H₂O

Department of Physics, Gakushuin University, 1-5-1 Mejiro, Toshima-ku, 171-8588 Tokyo, Japan

^a e-mail: koichiro.yamakawa@gakushuin.ac.jp

Received: 14 October 2016
Published online: 23 March 2017

Abstract

A theoretical model of the phonon-mediated nuclear spin relaxation in H₂O trapped by cryomatrices has been established for the first time. In order to test the validity of this model, we measured infrared spectra of H₂O trapped in solid Ar, which showed absorption peaks due to rovibrational transitions of ortho- and para-H₂O in the spectral region of the bending vibration. We monitored the time evolution of the spectra and analyzed the rotational relaxation associated with the nuclear spin flip to obtain the relaxation rates of H₂O at temperatures of 5–15 K. Temperature dependence of the rate is discussed in terms of the devised model.