The latest muon news

With great regret, because of the serious impact of the rapidly escalating COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, we have decided we need to postpone the 15th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance. We now hope to run the meeting summer 2021, more news will follow.

Come along to the new theoretical school taking place at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire) on August 15th – 23rd 2019! It is a first of this type since the 1998 Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics held at St Andrews University.

Muon Spectroscopy User Meeting: Future Developments and Site Calculations

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery is used in almost all if not all electronic personal devices and is starting to be used in electric and hybrid vehicles. By 2018 the global demand for Li-ion battery power (for consumer and electric vehicle use) is expected to reach 100 GW hours. They may well also have an important role to play as storage devices for renewable energy. As our Christmas lights shine in the dwindling daylight it begs the question “what happens to our renewable energy supply when the wind doesn't blow or the Sun doesn't shine?" ...

ISIS launches the call for the biennial training schools on how to use muons as a research tool!

Prof. Robert Kiefl was awarded the 2017 Yamazaki prize at the µSR2017 conference in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan for his excellence in applications of the µSR and B-NMR techniques, his significant contributions to an eclectic range of topics within condensed matter physics and materials science and for building up excellent muon facilities at TRIUMF with his team.

This year, the 14th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance (µSR2017) organised by the Hokkaido University, was held in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan on 25-30th June, 2017. The proceedings of the µSR2017 conference will be published as a volume in Journal of Physical Society of Japan: Conference Proceedings (JPS Conf. Proc.)

As part of the SINE2020 Sample Environment activities, a team at the Paul Scherrer Institute published a review of high pressure µSR experiments.

Scientists have studied by muon spin resonance the helical ground state and fluctuating chiral phase recently observed in the MnGe chiral magnet.

Eight neutron and muon introductory schools will be financially supported by SINE2020.

Neutron scattering and Muon spectroscopy textbook, exercises, and simulations of experiments are now available online and for free at e-neutrons.org.

Registration for the next ISIS Muon Training School is now open – deadline 6th January 2016. The course will run 14th – 18th March 2016.

The deadline for applying for funding for Neutron or Muon Introductory Schools is January 24. The schools will be supported by the SINE2020 project.

Researchers obtained surprising results when using muons to investigate the relation between superconductivity and magnetization.

Researchers at PSI created a synthetic material out of 1 billion tiny magnets. Astonishingly, it now appears that its magnetic properties change with the temperature, so that it can take on different states.

Muons were essential to show how non-magnetic metals become magnetic. The results of the experiments at PSI were published in Nature.

Muon scientists, together with the Universities of Oxford and Warwick, are currently developing the technique on the RIKEN Port 4 to non-destructively probe the composition of archaeological objects – including gold and silver coins from the Roman period and the Mary Rose – paving the way for future studies on other archaeological artefacts, engineering samples, bio-systems, and battery materials...

Representatives of major European Innovation and Technology Campuses met on November 19-21, 2014 in Athens for the second IAB meeting & Networking of Industrial Liaison Offices organised by NMI3 and CALIPSO.

Learn about Spectroscopy with Neutrons, Muons and Photons on the Swiss alps.

Contrarily to what was previously thought, hydrogenation could be more effective at low temperatures.

LMU chemists have synthesized a ferromagnetic superconducting compound that is amenable to chemical modification, opening the route to detailed studies of this rare combination of physical properties.

A one-day meeting will be held on the 15th December 2014 at 28 Portland Place, London to discuss the complementarity of muon techniques with well-established magnetic resonance methods. Presentations will cover many aspects of condensed matter physics and chemistry, with a particular focus on highlighting the unique insight muon measurements bring to this area of science. Further details and on-line registration can be found on the meeting website.

Roberto De Renzi is Professor of Physics was awarded the Yamazaki Prize for his work in magnetism and superconductivity making effective bridges between NMR and muon techniques.

A group led by Dr Serena Corr, Glasgow University, have synthesised nanoparticles of the battery material, LiFePO4, using a microwave synthesis method and investigated the diffusion of lithium in this nanostructure for the first time using muons. By looking at how these battery materials work at the atomic scale they hope to develop better battery materials in the future. The research has been published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A...

One way to improve efficiency is through the use of thermoelectric materials, which convert waste heat directly into electricity. Scientists from the University of East Anglia have been working with the muon group at ISIS to understand a new type of thermoelectric material that could take advantage of waste heat from, for example, furnaces, car exhausts or solar cells, improving overall efficiency and helping in the move towards a low carbon economy?..

The 13th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance (µSR2014) will be held in Grindelwald, Switzerland, from Monday, June 1st to Friday, June 6th, 2014. It is organized by the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), the University of Zurich and the University of Fribourg. The conference provides a forum to researchers from around the world with interests in the applications of µSR to study a wide range of topics including condensed matter physics, materials and molecular sciences, chemistry and biology. The Conference will consist of invited and contributed talks as well as poster sessions.

ISIS runs training schools for PhD students and Post-Doctoral researchers on how to use muons as a research tool. Participants are given a variety of lectures and workshops on the muon technique, as well as hands-on experience of muon experiments.

To mark the publication of a special edition of Physica Scripta, ISIS muons for materials and molecular sciences, ISIS looks back on the last 25 years of muons and their achievements...

A symposium discussing current research with muons across various disciplines, held at St Hugh's College, Oxford. The meeting was held in recognition of 25 years of muon science at ISIS and to mark the recent retirement of Steve Cox. Proceedings of the meeting will be available in Physica Scripta.

Here on Earth, such spectacular solar flares seem far away but in fact these extra-terrestrial events are a cause for concern in our modern digital world...

Prof. Jess H. Brewer was awarded the 2011 Yamazaki prize at the µSR2011 conference in Cancun, Mexico for being a pioneer of the development of the musr method, building the excellent muon facilities at TRIUMF and for his significant contributions to the areas of high temperature superconductivity, muonium dynamics and solid state chemistry, and charge transport, amongst others.

Dr Elvezio Morenzoni was awarded the 2008 Yamazaki prize at the µSR2008 conference in Tsukuba, Japan for his outstanding achievements for the development of Low Energy muSR opening completely new possibilities in many areas of modern physics, chemistry, biology and also technical applications.

Prof. Yasutomo J. Uemura was awarded the 2005 Yamazaki prize at the µSR2005 conference in Oxford, UK for his studies of spin glasses and the development of phenomenological models for the relaxation functions in these systems – which are standards today – and in his more recent work systemizing muSR penetration depth data in awide range of superconductors.