Muons and magnets

Abstract:

Significant muon spin-lattice relaxation is found in a number of non-magnetic semimetals and metals. Measured in longitudinal magnetic field, the relaxation rate is independent of field up to several kilogauss and generally increases monotonically with temperature. This suggests a form of Korringa relaxation, originating in the hyperfine interaction between the implanted muons and the conduction electrons. Bearing in mind that NMR data on Korringa relaxation refers chiefly to the host nuclei, the muon offers a probe of conduction-electron encounter at an interstitial site, linking the topic to the nature of defect screening in metals, to relaxation by spin-density fluctuations in magnetic materials and to spin- and charge-exchange on paramagnetic muonium centres in semiconductors. Data are presented for C (graphite), Bi, Pb and Cd and compared with the Korringa predictions using known values of the muon Knight shift. Control experiments are described on Zn and Cu, both pure and deliberately doped with magnetic impurity. For graphite, an interpretation is given in terms of charge-exchange on a molecular radical formed by the chemical reaction of interstitial muonium.

Abstract:

Muon radical states were studied in the electron donor molecules TTF and BEDT-TTF and in the electron acceptor molecule TCNQ. Muonium addition to double bond carbon sites results in hyperfine coupling contants ranging from 350 MHz in TTF down to 80 MHz for TCNQ. In TTF and BEDT-TTF additional radical states with extremely low hyperfine coupling constants in the 5 MHz region are observed; these are assigned to muon addition at sulphur sites accompanied by C - S bond cleavage. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract:

We report a muon spin relaxation (Formula presented) investigation of the organic spin-Peierls compound (Formula presented) at temperatures down to 39 mK. We have observed a slowing down of the electronic spins as the spin-Peierls gap widens at temperatures below the spin-Peierls transition and use this behavior to estimate the size of the gap. At the very lowest temperatures the electronic spin fluctuations freeze out and the muon spin depolarization is dominated by a persistent static mechanism which we ascribe to a defect-spin system. We relate the low-temperature depolarization rate to the concentration of these defects, and we propose a model for the creation of spin defects by the muon itself. © 2000 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

μSR has been used to study a variety of polymers with very different electronic properties. In conducting polymers, the muon-generated radical states take the form of highly mobile polarons. Muon spin relaxation has been used to study the mobility of these polarons and to measure the temperature dependence of their intra-chain and inter-chain diffusion rates. It is found that the transport properties are strongly influenced by the librational ring modes of the phenylene rings in these polymers. In contrast, the muon-generated radical states in non-conducting polymers such as polybutadiene remain localized near the site of the muon. High field muon spin rotation, avoided level crossing resonance and longitudinal relaxation studies have been made, using the muon radical state as a probe of the dynamical properties of the polymer. Dramatic changes in the μSR signals are seen on going through the glass-rubber transition, as various dynamical degrees of freedom become frozen out. Additional information about the stability of the muon radical states on the microsecond timescale has also been obtained using RF muon spin rotation techniques. Using time-delayed RF resonance of the diamagnetic state at the RIKEN-RAL muon facility, the transition rate between paramagnetic and diamagnetic states could be studied as a function of temperature.

Abstract:

We study effects on magnetotransport produced by changing the size of the trivalent ions R3+ in the layered polycrystalline materials Sr2RMn2O7 (R = Pr, Nd, Ho, Y) and by varying the mixed-valence ratio Mn3+/Mn4+ in the series Sr2-xNd1+xMn2O7 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5). The results of our magnetic and electrical measurements are related to the measured structural characteristics of each compound. For the Sr2RMn2O7 series, colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) is observed below 150 K for R = Pr and R = Nd but not for samples containing R = Ho or R = Y ions, which have smaller ionic radii. For R = Ho and R = Y, the absence of CMR is correlated with the paramagnetic and insulating properties of the samples. Within the series Sr2-xNd1+xMn2O7, the CMR effect is also observed for temperatures below 150 K and increases as the temperature decreases. In this series the samples show a mixture of spin-glass and antiferromagnetic behaviour (x = 0, 0.1) or no long-range magnetic order (x = 0.2, 0.5). The largest CMR at high temperatures (above 100 K) and high magnetic fields (14 T) is observed for the x = 0.2 sample, which also shows the largest magnetization per formula unit. The observed CMR in the compounds studied here is attributed to magnetic cluster formation.