Qauntum interfaces studied with low energy beta-NMR and muSR

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All electronic, magnetic and structural properties of a material are altered near an interface between two materials due to the broken translational symmetry and the influence that one material can have another. In some cases these changes are small and confined to just a few atomic layers while in other situations changes in behaviour are profound and extend over many nanometers. Giant magnetoresistance in magnetic multilayers is one notable example because of the large impact this discovery has had on magnetic storage. Few experimental methods are capable of probing local properties in a depth resolved manner. We have developed one of these at TRIUMF called low energy beta-detected nuclear magnetic resonance. The only other similar method is low energy muon spin rotation/relaxation which can only be performed at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. The two methods have similar principles but provide complementary information. Both may be regarded as a special form of magnetic resonance, which are well suited to studies in thin films and interfaces because they require roughly 10 orders of magnitude fewer spins than conventional NMR. Our goal is to explore electronic properties quantum materials and their interfaces using these novel methods.