Overhauser Effect in Metallic Lithium and Sodium

The overhauser polarization of nuclear spins in Li and Na metal has been precisely measured at 1.5°K and 10.4 G. The electron spin resonance was saturated for a time long compared to the nuclear spin relaxation time, and the resulting Overhauser polarization was then measured by adiabatically applying a high field and sweeping through nuclear resonance in a time short compared to the nuclear relaxation time. The degree of electron saturation was determined with precision by comparison with the change in electron spin magnetization longitudinally measured under the same experimental conditions. For Na the polarization ratio is 100±3% of its high-field theoretical value $\frac{{\gamma }_e}{{\gamma }_n}$; for Li, 84±3%. At 10.4 G correction must be made for polarization leakage via the nuclear spin-spin energy; the predicted ratios are 98.5% for Na and 90% for Li, of the high-field values. The remaining discrepancy in Li is presumably a result of conduction electron orbital contribution to the relaxation which is important because of the predominantly $p$ character of the lithium conduction electron wave functions. The orbital relaxation rate is estimated theoretically for Li, and the result agrees with experiment.