Surface relaxation of polarized Xe atoms dissolved in deuterated ethanol

We measured the spin relaxation of polarized xenon atoms dissolved in deuterated ethanol. Surface relaxation was suppressed by coating the cell walls with deuterated eicosane. From the dependence of the decay rate on temperature and static magnetic field, we obtained the correlation time of random fluctuations of the local field at the liquid-solid interface. By varying the cell volume, the wall coating, and the surface area of the eicosane, we measured the contribution of the spin-rotation interaction to the relaxation. The use of both deuterated molecules enables us to distinguish surface relaxation from the magnetic dipole-dipole and spin-rotation interactions in solution.