Session A4 - Opportunities for Condensed Matter Research at National User Facilities.
INVITED session, Monday morning, March 22
517C, Palais des Congres
Muons are nature's exquisite magnetic quantum probe which, when harnessed by a meson-producing accelerator like that found at TRIUMF, enable researchers to wield a uniquely sensitive and versatile experimental tool in the fields of condensed matter physics and physical chemistry. This prototypical atomic probe, viz. a light proton or hydrogen-like center, can often extract a characterization of the microscopic magnetic or electronic environment which is very difficult, or impossible, to obtain by other means.
To it's credit the \muSR technique has major accomplishments in the study of superconductivity (much of the current effort into HTc), exotic magnetism in strongly correlated and frustrated systems, hydrogen-like reaction kinetics, quantum diffusion, molecular dynamics of radicals, and the effects of hydrogen-like impurities in semiconductors. The breadth of this research is based on the unique properties of muons to act as a highly sensitive microscopic probe of its local magnetic field and also its ubiquitous capability of interacting with the host's electrons to form a variety of unbound or bound muon-electron states (i.e. atomic and/or molecular configurations) which have unique identifiable signatures.
To facilitate these research objectives with maximum efficiency, TRIUMF, through the Canadian National Research Council and associated funding agencies, have cooperated to support a dedicated \muSR User Facility that coordinates, maintains and develops \muSR infrastructure for a large international user group. In this presentation, a broad overview of the technique, the science and the experimental facilities at TRIUMF will be presented.