Abstract
The first measurement of pure nuclear quadrupole splitting energies by monitoring the induced longitudinal magnetic moment has been carried out on a crystal of sapphire at 4.2 °K. Adiabatic fast passage was used to invert the populations of levels split by the quadrupole interaction. A small magnetic field removed the degeneracy of the nuclear states, allowing measurement of the linewidth and spin‐lattice relaxation time. Unlike conventional techniques of adiabatic passage, this method, utilizing a SQUID magnetometer, allows determination of the widths of nuclear quadrupole lines without a sacrifice in signal level.