Centre for molecular and materials science at TRIUMF

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This proposal requests continued support for the Centre for Molecular and Materials Science at TRIUMF (CMMS). CMMS provides equipment and support personnel to enable external researchers to make use of the TRIUMF beams of muons and radioactive nuclides to investigate problems in chemistry, physics and materials science. It is the only facility of its kind in the Americas, and one of only two comparable facilities in the world. Funded by NSERC since 1988, it serves users with a wide range of interests in chemistry, physics and materials science. Solid-state physicists use muons to probe the microscopic properties of technologically important materials, such as superconductors and novel magnets. Chemists are interested in the muon as the nucleus of muonium (Mu), a light isotope of hydrogen and a spin label for free radicals. Mu studies also provide a means for investigating the behaviour of hydrogen in solids, e.g. as a trace impurity that dramatically modifies the electronic and optical properties of semiconductors. The recently developed beta-NMR facility at ISAC uses short-lived radioactive ions in a manner similar to muons to probe local properties of solids. These probes are implanted at low energies, and hence can stop in materials with tens of nanometer thickness.       The TRIUMF Five Year Plan 2005-2010 includes $2.75 million in capital + associated personnel costs for the construction of a new beam line for CMMS use. Additional support staff are needed to manage the increased infrastructure and to support the new user groups associated with recent faculty appointments at Canadian universities (10 in the past five years). It is also the aim of CMMS to provide services to a broader base of users, who need to use the facility but who should not be expected to become experts in muon and radioactive beam techniques. Since individual research groups typically take beam time for 1-6 weeks per year, it is essential for necessary spectrometers to be held in common and managed by a core of permanent staff.  That is the role of the Centre for Molecular and Materials Science at TRIUMF.