We show that the spin-lattice relaxation in n-type insulating GaAs is
dramatically accelerated at low magnetic fields. The origin of this effect,
that cannot be explained in terms of well-known diffusion-limited hyperfine
relaxation, is found in the quadrupole relaxation, induced by fluctuating donor
charges. Therefore, quadrupole relaxation, that governs low field nuclear spin
relaxation in semiconductor quantum dots, but was so far supposed to be
harmless to bulk nuclei spins in the absence of optical pumping can be studied
and harnessed in much simpler model environment of n-GaAs bulk crystal.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
