NEW SURFACE RELAXATION MECHANISM FOR LIQUID-HE-3 IN HE-4

Measurements of the nuclear magnetic spin-lattice relaxation time T-1 of liquid He-3 containing 0.5% He-4 and of He-3-He-4 mixtures as a fun ction of magnetic field up to 22 T and at temperatures down to 40mK sh ow a new surface relaxation mechanism for liquid He-3, which is propor tional to the square of the magnetic field and can be described by cla ssical relaxation theory. The intrinsic relaxation time of liquid He-3 , obtained from T-1 measurements by eliminating the surface relaxation contribution, is in good agreement with existing Fermi liquid theory.