The relaxation rate (T1(-1)) of Li-7 in LiTaO3 has been investigated a
s a function of temperature in the range of 160 - 400 K with a pulse N
MR spectrometer operating at 4.7 T. The rate was observed to increase
linearly with increasing temperature. This relaxation behavior turns o
ut to be different from that previously reported for a powder sample,
where T1(-1)) was independent of temperature and was considered to be
due to the impurity effect. This linear temperature dependence of the
relaxation rate in a single crystal may well be accounted for by the d
irect process of scattering with a single phonon. Since our measuremen
t was made with a single crystal sample with no appreciable impurities
, the present result represents a more reliable feature of the intrins
ic behavior of the relaxation process in LiTaO3.