We present a direct spectroscopic observation of a shallow hydrogen-like muonium state in SrTiO$_3$ which confirms the theoretical prediction that interstitial hydrogen may act as a shallow donor in this material. The formation of this muonium state
is temperature dependent and appears below $sim 70$ K. From the temperature dependence we estimate an activation energy of $sim 50$ meV in the bulk and $sim 23$ meV near the free surface. The field and directional dependence of the muonium precession frequencies further supports the shallow impurity state with a rare example of a fully anisotropic hyperfine tensor. From these measurements we determine the strength of the hyperfine interaction and propose that the muon occupies an interstitial site near the face of the oxygen octahedron in SrTiO$_3$. The observed shallow donor state provides new insight for tailoring the electronic and optical properties of SrTiO$_{3}$-based oxide interface systems.
We report the observation of weak magnetism in superlattices of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 using beta-detected nuclear magnetic resonance. The spin lattice relaxation rate of 8 Li in superlattices with a spacer layers of 8 and 6 unit cells of LaAlO3 exhibits a st
rong peak near ~35 K, whereas no such peak is observed in a superlattice with spacer layer thickness of 3 unit cells. We attribute the observed temperature dependence to slowing down of weakly coupled electronic moments at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. These results show that the magnetism at the interface depends strongly on the thickness of the spacer layer, and that a minimal thickness of ~4-6 unit cells is required for the appearance of magnetism. A simple model is used to determine that the observed relaxation is due to small fluctuating moments (~0.002 muB) in the two samples with a larger LaAlO3 spacer thickness.
We present a detailed investigation of the magnetic and structural properties of magnetically doped 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3. From muon spin relaxation measurements in zero magnetic field, we find that even 5% Fe doping on the Bi site turns th
e full volume of the sample magnetic at temperatures as high as ~250 K. This is also confirmed by magnetization measurements. Two magnetic phases are identified; the first is observed between ~10-250 K while the second appears below ~10 K. These cannot be attributed to impurity phases in the samples. We discuss the nature and details of the observed magnetism and its dependence on doping level.
We present a method to measure the magnetic properties of monolayers and ultra-thin films of magnetic material. The method is based on low energy muon spin rotation and $beta$-detected nuclear magnetic resonance measurements. A spin probe is used as
a proximal magnetometer by implanting it in the substrate, just below the magnetic material. We calculate the expected magnetic field distribution sensed by the probe and discuss its temperature and implantation depth dependencies. This method is highly suitable for measuring the magnetic properties of monolayers of single molecule magnets, but can also be extended to ultra-thin magnetic films.
We present an investigation of the near-surface tetragonal phase transition in SrTiO3, using the complementary techniques of beta-detected nuclear magnetic resonance and grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction. The results show a clear depth dependence o
f the phase transition on scales of a few microns. The measurements support a model in which there are tetragonal domains forming in the sample at temperatures much higher than the bulk phase transition temperature. Moreover, we find that these domains tend to form at higher temperatures preferentially near the free surface of the crystal. The details of the tetragonal domain formation and their depth/lateral dependencies are discussed.
We present zero field muon spin lattice relaxation measurements of a Dysprosium triangle molecular magnet. The local magnetic fields sensed by the implanted muons indicate the coexistence of static and dynamic internal magnetic fields below $T^* ~35$
K. Bulk magnetization and heat capacity measurements show no indication of magnetic ordering below this temperature. We attribute the static fields to the slow relaxation of the magnetization in the ground state of Dy3. The fluctuation time of the dynamic part of the field is estimated to be ~0.55 $mu$s at low temperatures
The magnetic properties of a monolayer of Fe4 single molecule magnets grafted onto a Au (111) thin film have been investigated using low energy muon spin rotation. The properties of the monolayer are compared to bulk Fe4. We find that the magnetic pr
operties in the monolayer are consistent with those measured in the bulk, strongly indicating that the single molecule magnet nature of Fe4 is preserved in a monolayer. However, differences in the temperature dependencies point to a small difference in their energy scale. We attribute this to a ~60% increase in the intramolecular magnetic interactions in the monolayer.
We present muon spin lattice relaxation measurements in the V15 spin 1/2 molecular nano-magnet. We find that the relaxation rate in low magnetic fields (<5 kG) is temperature independent below ~10 K, implying that the molecular spin is dynamically fl
uctuating down to 12 mK. These measurements show that the fluctuation time increases as the temperature is decreased and saturates at a value of ~6 nsec at low temperatures. The fluctuations are attributed to V15 molecular spin dynamics perpendicular to the applied magnetic field direction, induced by coupling between the molecular spin and nuclear spin bath in the system.
The magnetic properties of a monolayer of Mn12 single molecule magnets grafted onto a Si substrate have been investigated using depth-controlled $beta$-detected nuclear magnetic resonance. A low energy beam of spin polarized radioactive 8Li was used
to probe the local static magnetic field distribution near the Mn12 monolayer in the Si substrate. The resonance linewidth varies strongly as a function of implantation depth as a result of the magnetic dipolar fields generated by the Mn12 electronic magnetic moments. The temperature dependence of the linewidth indicates that the magnetic properties of the Mn12 moments in this low dimensional configuration differ from bulk Mn12.
Low energy $beta$-detected nuclear magnetic resonance ($beta$-NMR) was used to investigate the spatial dependence of the hyperfine magnetic fields induced by Fe in the nonmagnetic Ag of an Au(40 AA)/Ag(200 AA)/Fe(140 AA) (001) magnetic multilayer (MM
L) grown on GaAs. The resonance lineshape in the Ag layer shows dramatic broadening compared to intrinsic Ag. This broadening is attributed to large induced magnetic fields in this layer by the magnetic Fe layer. We find that the induced hyperfine field in the Ag follows a power law decay away from the Ag/Fe interface with power $-1.93(8)$, and a field extrapolated to $0.23(5)$ T at the interface.
