Spin-wave contributions to nuclear magnetic relaxation in magnetic metals

Abstract

The longitudinal and transverse nuclear magnetic relaxation rates $1/T_1(T)$ and $1/T_2(T)$ are calculated for three- and two-dimensional (3D and 2D) metallic ferro- and antiferromagnets (FM and AFM) with localized magnetic moments in the spin-wave temperature region. The contribution of the one-magnon decay processes is strongly enhanced in comparison with the standard $T$-linear Korringa term, especially for the FM case. For the 3D AFM case this contribution diverges logarithmically, the divergence being cut at the magnon gap $ω_0$ due to magnetic anisotropy, and for the 2D AFM case as $ω_0^{-1}$. The electron-magnon scattering processes yield $T^2\ln (T/ω_0)$ and $T^2/ω_0^{1/2}$-terms in $1/T_1$ for the 3D AFM and 2D FM cases, respectively. The two-magnon (``Raman'') contributions are investigated and demonstrated to be large in the 2D FM case. Peculiarities of the isotropic 2D limit (where the correlation length is very large) are analyzed.