Introduction to µSR

muon spin rotation, relaxation and resonance

History
In 1937, the muon was discovered as secondary radiation from cosmic rays.
The story of µSR began with an American revolution in theoretical physics. T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang, co-winners
of the Nobel Prize in 1957, predicted that any process governed by the weak nuclear interaction might not
have a corresponding "mirror image" process of equal probability – the parity violation, which is responsible
for the decay of the pion and muon.
In 1957, Garwin and collaborators showed a dramatic effect in the decay of pions to muons and the
subsequent decay of muons to electrons, neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, noted that “it seems possible that
polarized positive and negative muons will become a powerful tool for exploring magnetic fields in nuclei,
atoms, and interatomic regions.” The history of µSR began with that experiment.
The acronym µSR was coined in 1974, in the first issue of the µSR Newsletter: µSR stands for Muon Spin
Relaxation, Rotation, Resonance, Research or what have you Any study of the interactions of the muon spin by
virtue of the asymmetric decay is considered µSR, and relevant to the use of the muon's magnetic moment as
a delicate probe of matter.
Muon Property
A positive muon µ+ can be considered as an unstable
light isotope of hydrogen (0.11 mp), a negative muon
µ- as an unstable heavy electron (207 me)
Muon Generation
Muon Generation
In pion’s decay process,

Because the neutrino of the weak interaction

decay has a helicity of -1, so its spin has a
opposite direction to momentum. For
momentum conservation of the pion decay, it is
the same for muons. And since the pion has
spin 0, the fermions µ+ and ν have opposite
spins,
As a consequence, the muon beam is polarized,
i.e. the muon spin is opposite to the momentum.
Muon Decay

Due to the parity violation of the muon decay, the muon emits a fast positron
(electron) preferentially along the direction of its spin

The probability of emission is given by

 When the muon goes into the
Muon Implantation material, it will feel the magnetic field
or experience the interaction with the
spins of the sample, then its
polarization will change. In a μSR
experiment, a relaxation of the initial
polarization versus the time spent by
the muon in the sample arises that
one wants to measure. It is reflected
by the asymmetry of the
positron/electron emission. When
muon implanted in the material, they
merely stop into the sample and stay
Muons can be implanted into any material (gas, liquid or solid) and there, at rest, and the muon location
the µSR method applied to samples in a large variety of environments is however not known accurately
(e.g. any temperature, magnetic fields up to 8 T, electric fields, high which constitutes a major limitation
pressure, irradiated with light, applied RF pulses etc.) of the technique in most cases.
Muon Time Window
The µSR technique can measure magnetic fluctuation rates in the range 104 to 1012 Hz,
depending on the size of the magnetic field at the muon site. This unique time window bridges the
gap between fluctuation rates sensed with the NMR and neutron scattering techniques.

The µSR technique is unmatched in its extreme sensitivity to small internal magnetic fields (~0.1 G)
able to detect fields of nuclear and electronic origin.

Assume: At least one Larmor precession fits into the

observation time window ∆t = 20 µs (~ 10 muon life times)
The corresponding Larmor frequency:

The lower limit of a magnetic field to be detected by µSR

Schematic of μSR
Schematic of μSR
Schematic of μSR

Schematic of a μSR longitudinal experimental setup Zero-field muon decay asymmetry

Asymmetry Parameter

As a result of parity violation, the decay electrons are distributed asymmetrically with
respect to muon polarization.

With upper sign for µ+ decay and lower sign for µ- decay.
Asymmetry Parameter

The asymmetry coefficient A depends on the energy of the decay positron from µ+
decay and the decay electron from µ− decay.

where 𝐸𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑚μ 𝑐 2 /2 = 53 MeV.

Usually, in most μSR experiments, the electron

energy is not selected. In such a case the energy-
averaged asymmetry becomes A = ±1/3
Muon Spin Resonance

Muon Spin Resonance is a variation of more traditional magnetic resonance

techniques like NMR and ESR. A static magnetic field is applied parallel to the
initial muon spin polarization and a RF field is used to reorient the muon spin.
Resonance occurs when the RF frequency matches an energy level splitting of one
of the muon states present in the system under investigation. This condition is
detected as a loss of muon polarization.
Summary
Positive vs. Negative

While µ+ avoids the positively charged nuclei in the host material, µ- behaves as a
heavy electron and is easily captured into the atomic orbitals.
Because it is "heavy", the µ- quickly cascades to the atomic 1s ground state and
then lose its polarization, which introduces the undesired noise.
On the other hand, the significant overlap between muon and nuclear wave
functions can result in nuclear capture, so the measured mean lifetime in matter
is considerably shorter for the µ- because of the capture by nuclei.

Together the complications of increased noise, reduced polarization, and shorter

lifetimes mean that µ-SR is used only in certain selected cases.
High-energy muon beams
Pions escaping the production
target at high energies are
collected over a certain solid angle
and directed on to a decay section
consisting of a long
superconducting solenoid with a
field of several Tesla. A large
fraction of the pions will have
decayed before they reach the end
of the solenoid. It will bring
homogeneous implantation
of the muons into large
sample volumes.
Surface (or Arizona) μ + beams

The surface muon beam is always used for the investigation of relatively thin
samples, its energy is rather weak. Muons arising from pions slowing down in the
production target and decaying at rest near the target surface. And it is only used
for positive muon.
Low-energy muon beams
• High energy beam (15-60
MeV µ+ or µ-) for bulk
matter studies
• Surface (Arizona) beam (4
MeV µ+) – Magnetism,
superconductivity, soft
matter, chemistry in
relatively thin samples
• Low-energy muon beam
(0-30 keV µ+) – Thin films,
multilayers, interfaces on a
nm scale
Quantum Magnetism

The study of magnetism is the most common area of application of µSR, due to
the sensitivity of the muon to small fields and its capability to probe both static
and dynamic local field distributions. μSR is able to map out phase diagrams of
low moment systems at very low temperatures and applied fields.
Spin-glass systems

The ability to perform µSR measurements in zero field has been especially useful
for spin-glass systems, which are quite sensitive to the application of external
magnetic fields. µSR provides a full signal even when the internal field is random
in magnitude. This feature often allows µSR studies in spin-glass systems where
the NMR signal is wiped out due to randomness and/or fast relaxation
phenomena.
Frustrated Spin Systems

There is currently much active research on random and/or geometrically

frustrated spin systems, where the magnetic ions occupy the vertices of edge or
corner sharing triangular units. In these cases the natural magnetic coupling
between ions is geometrically frustrated, while the translational symmetry of the
lattice is preserved. Such systems pose formidable theoretical and experimental
barriers to effective understanding.
Surfaces & Interface

Low energy muons can be implanted at different depths allowing surfaces and
interfaces to be probed. The energy of muon beams can be tuned allowing them
to be implanted at different depths within materials. Using low energy muons
(LEM) enables us to probe magnetic behaviour at surfaces and interfaces as well
as within the bulk of materials.
Superconductivity

Muons are a sensitive probe of length scales, symmetry and spontaneous fields in
superconductors. The interplay of superconductivity and magnetism on a
microscopic scale is a central theoretical and experimental issue in condensed
matter physics. Because of its high sensitivity to small internal magnetic fields and
its ability to determine the volume fraction of magnetic phases, µSR is ideally
suited to addressing this fundamental issue
Reference
1. Muon Spin Rotation/Relaxation/Resonance (µSR), Jeff E. Sonier Simon Fraser, Simon Fraser
University Department of Physics
2. Muon spin relaxation/rotation/resonance (µSR), Masatsugu Sei Suzuki, Department of
Physics, SUNY at Binghamton
3. Local probes of magnetism, NMR and µSR: A short introduction, Fabrice Bert,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/sfn/20141303001
4. μSR - Muon spin rotation, relaxation and resonance, M. Forker, Nuclear Methods in Solid
State Research
5. Muon Spin Spectroscopy, Adrian Hillier, ISIS Facility
6. Muon Spectroscopy: Materials research, UKRI
7. Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance - Application to Condensed Matter, A.
Yaouanc and P. Dalmas de Réotier, Oxford University Press