ABSTRACT

As even the most cursory inspection of the contents of these summer school proceedings will reveal, muon science is extraordinarily diverse in its nature and application. Indeed the muon implantation and thermalisation processes occur so rapidly that depolarization is insignificant. This provides muon spin research (µSR) with a tremendous advantage as a magnetic resonance technique. The simplest and most familiar time-differential µSR technique is the transverse field muon spin rotation experiment, in which an external magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the muon polarization, causing the muon spins to precess about the field. If the muon polarization initially has no components perpendicular to the local field then none will develop and only the polarization along the initial direction needs to be measured. It should be noted that zero field µSR, which is generally called muon spin relaxation, is simply longitudinal field µSR in the zero field limit.