⁸Li⁺ β-NMR in the Cubic Insulator MgO

We present extensive high magnetic field β-NMR measurements of ⁸Li⁺ implanted in single crystals of MgO. The narrow resonance, consistent with a cubic ⁸Li⁺ site, likely the tetrahedral interstitital, is used routinely as a reference for shift measurements. We show the intrinsic linewidth is on the order of 200 Hz, allowing a frequency determination to an accuracy of a few Hz. We find no implantation energy dependence of the resonance within a few ppm, but there is evidence of slow spin dynamics in hole-burning measurements. The spin lattice relaxation is slow. The temperature dependence reveals interesting changes at low temperature whose origin remains uncertain.