Spin-polarized muons in condensed matter physics

Abstract

A positive muon is a spin-1/2 particle. Beams

Local magnetism and spin correlations in the geometrically frustrated cluster magnetLiZn2Mo3O8

“…2(c). The large relaxation rate of the "d" peak is consistent with thermally activated mobile Li atoms [E a = 372 (26) K] at room temperature that freeze-out upon cooling, in agreement with previously measured heat capacity data [20]. A structural model refined to elastic neutron scattering data [20] indicate most of the Li atoms in LiZn 2 Mo 3 O 8 reside in Li/Zn fractionally occupied octahedral sites.…”

“…μSR experiments [26,27] were carried out using the MuSR spectrometer at the ISIS Pulsed Muon Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, which is equipped with a dilution refrigerator. In the μSR experiment, spin-polarized positive muons (μ + , momentum 28 MeV/c) were implanted into the LiZn 2 Mo 3 O 8 sample.…”

Muon spin rotation and relaxation inPr1−xNdxOs4MacLaughlin1, Ho2, Shu3 et al. 2014Phys. Rev. B

“…III. More details of the µSR technique can be found in a number of monographs and review articles [21][22][23][24][25]. In a ZF-µSR experiment in a multidomain or polycrystalline magnet with a sufficient number of randomly oriented domains or crystallites, the static local fields B µ are oriented randomly with respect to the initial direction of the µ + spin polarization S µ .…”

Unusual field dependence of spin fluctuations on different timescales in Tb2Ti2O7

“…The ac susceptibility measurements were performed using a custom made coil set, thermally anchored to the mixing chamber of an Oxford Instruments dilution refrigerator through immersion in liquid 4 He. For our µSR measurements 40 we performed experiments at the pulsed ISIS muon source (MuSR spectrometer) and the continuous PSI source [Low Temper- ature Fridge (LTF) spectrometer], ensuring both long and short time resolution. The magnetic field was parallel to the initial muon spin polarization [longitudinal field (LF)] in the ISIS measurements (0.05 < T < 10K) and with the initial muon spin polarization partially rotated [LF and transverse field (TF)] for measurements (0.025 < T < 0.9K) using the LTF spectrometer.…”