Muon spin rotation/relaxation/resonance in solids

带正电的μ子（TRIUMF加速器产生的一种不稳定的反物质形式）具有几种奇异的性质，使它们能够使用称为μ子自旋旋转/弛豫/共振（µSR）的技术来探测材料的电磁性质。 美洲唯一的µSR设施（也是世界上仅有的两个此类设施之一）由TRIUMF的NSERC提供支持，在那里我努力开发和改进适用于我主要物理学兴趣的µSR方法和能力： 自1986-87年高温超导体（HTSC）被发现以来，µSR一直是其性质的重要探测器;它对弱磁性和无序磁性的独特敏感性使我们能够研究这些重要新材料中磁性和超导性的共存，以帮助理解这样的东西是如何存在的，并更好地理解它们的电磁特性，从而可以加速它们在实际设备中的使用。 作为CIAR量子材料计划的一员，我了解到HTSC的许多磁性都受到强相关电子的合作行为的影响，这也体现在其他材料的磁性中，例如钴氧化物，它是热电设备的候选材料，可以将热量直接转换为电能。 我与日本科学家合作研究这种潜在的应用;我还与俄罗斯科学家正在进行合作，研究绝缘体和半导体，其中当正μ子捕获通过其通道释放的电子时，通常会形成μ原子。 通过研究Mu形成的场依赖性，我们已经能够确定各种材料中电荷载流子的迁移率-这些信息对它们在设备中的使用至关重要。 最近，我们结合了上述µSR方法来研究磁性半导体-“自旋电子学”器件的候选材料，可以同时执行电子逻辑操作和存储磁性信息。 µSR的技术也可以应用于各种基础物理研究;我在TRIUMF积极参与了其中的几项研究，包括TWIST实验和μ子原子的几项研究。

Positively charged muons (an unstable form of antimatter produced at the TRIUMF accelerator) have several exotic properties which allow them to be used to probe the electromagnetic properties of materials using techniques known as Muon Spin Rotation/Relaxation/Resonance (µSR). The only µSR facility in the Americas (and one of only two of its kind in the world) is supported by NSERC at TRIUMF, where I strive to develop and improve µSR methods and capabilities applicable to my main physics interests: Since high temperature superconductors (HTSC) were discovered in 1986-87, µSR has been an essential probe of their properties; its unique sensitivity to weak and disordered magnetism allows us to study the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in these important new materials, to help understand how such things can exist and to better understand their electromagnetic properties so that their use in practical devices may be hastened. As a member of the CIAR Quantum Materials program I have learned that many of the magnetic properties of HTSC are governed by the cooperative behaviour of strongly correlated electrons, which is also manifest in the magnetism of other materials, such as cobalt oxides which are candidate materials for thermoelectric devices to convert heat directly into electricity. I collaborate with Japanese scientists to study such potential applications; I also have an ongoing collaboration with Russian scientists to study insulators and semiconductors, in which a muonium (Mu) atom is often formed when a positive muon captures an electron liberated by its passage. By studying the field dependence of Mu formation, we have been able to determine the mobility of charge carriers in various materials - information vital to their use in devices. Recently we have combined the above µSR methods to study magnetic semiconductors - candidate materials for "spintronics" devices which could perform electronic logic operations and store magnetic information simultaneously. The techniques of µSR can also be applied to various fundamental physics investigations; I am active in several of these at TRIUMF, including the TWIST experiment and several studies of muonic atoms.