2D-ELDOR DETECTION OF MAGNETIZATION TRANSFER OF NITROXIDES IN DISORDERED SOLID POLYMERS

Two-dimensional electron-electron double resonance (2D-ELDOR) experiments on nitroxide spin labels in solid liquid-crystalline side-group polymers have been performed employing narrow-band microwave excitation pulses followed by a rapid magnetic field step during a mixing time and detection at the new selected point of the EPR spectrum. Information about magnetization transfer throughout the full EPR spectrum is obtained by sweeping both pumping and detecting fields. In the two-dimensional representation of experimental ELDOR data, the different processes causing magnetization transfer through the EPR spectrum, i.e. electron spin diffusion, nuclear relaxation, and slow rotational motions lead to different patterns and can be distinguished by recording 2D-ELDOR spectra as a function of temperature. In the specific system studied, the 2D-ELDOR spectra show the dominance of magnetization transfer between states with close molecular orientations but different nitrogen nuclear spin projections caused by flips of nuclear spins. The results are discussed in terms of dynamic processes in glasses.