Browsing by Author "Meier, QN"

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    Observation of a charge-neutral muon-polaron complex in antiferromagnetic Cr2O3
    (American Physical Society (APS), 2019-11-26) Dehn, MH; Shenton, JK; Holenstein, S; Meier, QN; Arseneau, DJ; Cortie, DL; Hitti, B; Fang, ACY; MacFarlane, WA; McFadden, RML; Morris, GD; Salman, Z; Luetkens, H; Spaldin, NA; Fechner, M; Kiefl, RF
    We report a comprehensive muon spin rotation (μSR) study of the prototypical magnetoelectric antiferromagnet Cr2O3. We find the positively charged muon (μ+) occupies several distinct interstitial sites and displays a rich dynamic behavior involving local hopping, thermally activated site transitions, and the formation of a charge-neutral complex composed of a muon and an electron polaron. The discovery of such a complex has implications for the interpretation of μSR spectra in a wide range of magnetic oxides and opens a route to study the dopant characteristics of interstitial hydrogen impurities in such materials. We address implications arising from implanting a μ+ into a linear magnetoelectric and discuss the challenges of observing a local magnetoelectric effect generated by the charge of the muon. © Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.