Relaxation of polarized nuclei in superconducting rhodium

Nuclear spin lattice relaxation rates were measured in normal and superconducting (sc) rhodium with nuclear polarizations up to p = 0.55. This was sufficient to influence the sc state of Rh, whose T, and B-c, are exceptionally low. Because B-c << B-loc and the short-range spin-spin interaction is unchanged, the nuclear spin entropy was fully sustained across the sc transition.

The relaxation in the sc state was slower at all temperatures without the coherence enhancement close to T-c. Nonzero nuclear polarization strongly reduced the difference between the relaxation rates in the sc and normal states.