Magnetic-field-induced quadrupole splitting in gaseous and liquid 131Xe NMR: quadratic and quartic field dependence.

A theory for the magnetic-field-dependent quadrupole splitting in the 131Xe NMR spectra in isotropic media is presented and tested by ab initio electronic structure calculations. Evidence exists only for even-power magnetic field dependence. The dominant mechanism is verified to be the electric field gradient caused by the diamagnetic distortion of the atomic electron cloud, quadratic in the magnetic field. The computed results are in excellent agreement with the recent experiment by Meersmann and Haake.