Nuclear Polarization via "Hot" Conduction Electrons

A polarization scheme similar in princlple to the Overhauser effect is proposed which does not require an external radio-freqency field in order to saturate the electron spin. It is based on the difference between the eloctron spin temperature and the temperature corresponding to the mean kinetic energy of the electons accelerated in a d-c electric field. A preliminary experiment on electrons in silicon demonstrates the existence of a large temperature difference. (W.D.M)