The spin-lattice relaxation times of 115In in liquid In, embedded in artificial opals and porous glasses, were found to be markedly shortened when compared to bulk In melt. The spin-relaxation acceleration was attributed mainly to enhancement of the quadrupole contribution caused by translational diffusion in liquid In. The magnetic contribution was apparently unchanged, on the basis of Knight-shift measurements and the Korringa relation. Calculations of the quadrupole relaxation showed that it dominated the spin-relaxation process for In in nanopores, and that the correlation times of atomic motion increased by more than a factor of 6; depending upon the pore size. The increase in the correlation time revealed a marked slowing of atomic diffusion in confined molten In.

Influence of Confined Geometry on Nuclear Spin Relaxation and Self-Diffusion in Liquid Indium. E.V.Charnaya, C.Tien, Y.A.Kumzerov, A.V.Fokin: Physical Review B, 2004, 70[5], 052201 (4pp)