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A new and highly sensitive β-NMR method to study adsorbates on single-crystal surfaces is presented. Contrary to conventional NMR, this method combines (via optical pumping) a high, nonthermal polarization of the adsorbed species with a particle counting method. Here, the β-active isotope 8Li is produced in the nuclear reaction D(7Li, 8Li)H using a high-pressure deuterium gas target. The fast 8Li ions are subsequently implanted into a hot graphite block where they thermally diffuse to the surface and desorb. The desorbing thermal velocity 8Li atoms are shaped into an atomic beam. Using a frequency modulated laser beam the atoms are transferred into a single hyperfine state by optical pumping. The so-achieved nuclear polarization of the atoms (before impinging on the single-crystal surface) is approximately 0.8 and can be switched in sign by an adiabatic high-frequency transition. The atoms adsorb on the single-crystal surface and their polarization—either freely decaying on the surface or driven by an external radio-frequency field—is observed via the decay asymmetry of the nuclear β-decay of the 8Li nuclei. This method realizes an effective sensitivity to the active NMR isotope of 5×103 atoms/cm2, which corresponds to a stationary coverage of 10−11 of a monolayer. The typical electron count rate is 400 Hz during β-NMR experiments.

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