Spin depolarization of Muonium in Mesoporous Silica
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Date
2014-12-16
Journal Title
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Publisher
IOP Publishing
Abstract
We report muon spin rotation/relaxation measurements of muonium in mesoporous silica (SBA-15) with a high specific surface area of 600 m2/g. Up to 70 percent of the incoming muons form muonium and escape efficiently into the open pores at all temperatures between 3 and 300K. We present evidence that the interaction with the silica surfaces involves both spin exchange and a transition to a diamagnetic state, possibly due to dangling bonds on the surface. At very low temperatures, below 20K, the interaction between muonium and the silica surfaces is suppressed due to a He film coating the surfaces. These results indicate that it should be possible to use muonium to probe the surfaces of uncapped nanoparticles supported in silica. © 2014 The Authors - Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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Keywords
Muon spin relaxation, Silica, Nanoparticles, Spin, Temperature range, Porosity, Symmetry, Materials, Matter, Muon probes
Citation
Dehn, M. H., Arseneau, D. J., Bridges, M. D., Buck, T., Cortie, D. L., Cottrell, S. P., Fleming, D. G., Kelly, J. A., MacFarlane, W. A., MacLachlan, M. J., Morris, G. D., McKenzie, I., Xiao, J., & Kiefl, R. F. (2014). Spin Depolarization of muonium in mesoporous silica. Paper presented to the 13th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance 1–6 June 2014, Grindelwald, Switzerland. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 551(1), 012006. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/551/1/012006