Atomic mobility in nanostructured liquid Ga-In alloy

Nuclear spin relaxation and the Knight shift for ⁷¹Ga, ⁶⁹Ga, and ¹¹⁵In isotopes were studied by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in liquid gallium-indium alloy confined to porous glass and alloy surface film and were compared with the bulk counterparts. Drastic spin relaxation acceleration under nanoconfinement was observed for the three isotopes. Quadrupole and magnetic contributions to spin relaxation were separated for gallium and indium isotopes using the experimental data obtained, which allowed, in particular, the evaluation of correlation times of atomic mobility. The strong decrease in the correlation time was found for confined alloy which evidenced a remarkable diffusion slowdown. The effect of changes in atomic mobility on NMR line broadening was also discussed.