Spin Echo Decay in a Stochastic Field Environment

Abstract

We derive a general formalism with which it is possible to obtain the time dependence of the echo size for a spin in a stochastic field environment. Our model is based on ``strong collisions''. We examine in detail three cases where: (I) the local field is Ising-like, (II) the field distribution is continuous and has a finite second moment, and (III) the distribution is Lorentzian. The first two cases show a T2 minimum effect and are exponential in time cubed for short times. The last case can be approximated by a phenomenological stretched exponential.