Defect-impurity interaction and loss of nuclear alignment of 69Ge and 67Zn in copper metal

The alignment of impurity nuclei recoil-implanted into copper has been measured as a function of temperature. At 3000K, 69Ge and 67Ge impurities lose 50% of the nuclear alignment within 10-8 sec after implantation into the copper host, while the full alignment is observed for the 67Zn impurity. The temperature dependence of the alignment can be explained by a simple model which assumes static quadrupole interactions with lattice defects in the vicinity of the impurity