Spin Dynamics of Polarised Fermi-liquid 3He

The spin-dynamics of Fermi-liquid helium-3 in pure form and in its mixtures with helium-4 are considered in this thesis. A linearised model of the spin dynamics is developed from Leggett's equation of motion, including spin-diffusion, the Leggett-Rice spin-rotation effect and cylindrical boundary conditions . The equations are solved using a matrix formalism, allowing simulation of FIDs, NMR spectra and spin-echoes. The boundary conditions are shown to cause deviations of spin-echo amplitude and phase from the predictions of Leggett and Rice, for realistic experiments. The model is extended to include the demagnetising field (dipolar field) due to the magnetisation of the sample itself. Simulations show that, when the demagnetising field is strong, spectral clustering is present and sharp peaks are observed in the NMR spectrum. Data from NMR experiments on 3He and 3He-4He mixtures in an 11.3T magnetic field, performed in Nottingham in 1999/2000, are analysed. The analysis of 6.2% 3He mixture is predominantly by least-squares fitting of the model (excluding demagnetising field) to spin-echo data, yielding the transverse spin-diffusion coefficient and spin-rotation parameter as functions of temperature down to 3.4mK. Parameters are seen to deviate from the 1/Ta^2 characteristic of Fermi-liquid transport parameters, with a 1/(T^2+Ta^2) form, indicative of spin-transport anisotropy. The anisotropy temperature scale Ta is found to be 6+-1 mK. Analysis of pure 3He experiments is by qualitative comparison of spectroscopic data with the model (including demagnetising field): many observed features are reproduced by the simulation