Professor Stephen Blundell: Publications

Muon spin rotation study of the layered oxyselenide Sr2CoO2Ag2Se2

Physical Review B American Physical Society 106:22 (2022) 224410

Authors:

Gjw Gill, Jm Wilkinson, F Lang, Jn Blandy, SJ Clarke, Sj Blundell

Abstract:

The results of a muon spin rotation experiment on the layered oxyselenide Sr2CoO2Ag2Se2 are presented. The compound contains square-planar CoO2 layers and is found to exhibit a phase transition at 160.4(1) K to an antiferromagnetic configuration of the Co2+ ions. Density functional theory calculations were performed in order to determine the stopping site of the muon within the unit cell. The calculated magnetic dipole field at the muon stopping site was shown to be consistent with the proposed magnetic structure.

Muon-spin relaxation investigation of magnetic bistability in a crystalline organic radical compound

(2022)

Authors:

Alberto Hernandez-Melian, Benjamin M Huddart, Francis L Pratt, Stephen J Blundell, Michelle B Mills, Harrison KS Young, Kathryn E Preuss, Tom Lancaster

Beyond Single Tetrahedron Physics of Breathing Pyrochlore Compound Ba3Yb2Zn5O11

(2022)

Authors:

Rabindranath Bag, Sachith E Dissanayake, Han Yan, Zhenzhong Shi, David Graf, Eun Sang Choi, Casey Marjerrison, Franz Lang, Tom Lancaster, Yiming Qiu, Wangchun Chen, Stephen J Blundell, Andriy H Nevidomskyy, Sara Haravifard

Field-tunable Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless correlations in a Heisenberg magnet

(2022)

Authors:

D Opherden, MSJ Tepaske, F Bärtl, M Weber, MM Turnbull, T Lancaster, SJ Blundell, M Baenitz, J Wosnitza, CP Landee, R Moessner, DJ Luitz, H Kühne

Entanglement between muon and I > 1/2 nuclear spins as a probe of charge environment

Physical Review Letters American Physical Society 129:9 (2022) 97205

Authors:

Pietro Bonfà, Jonathan Frassineti, John M Wilkinson, Giacomo Prando, Muhammad Maikudi Isah, Chennan Wang, Tiziana Spina, Boby Joseph, Vesna F Mitrović, Roberto De Renzi, Stephen J Blundell, Samuele Sanna

Abstract:

We report on the first example of quantum coherence between the spins of muons and quadrupolar nuclei. We reveal that these entangled states are highly sensitive to a local charge environment and thus, can be deployed as a functional quantum sensor of that environment. The quantum coherence effect was observed in vanadium intermetallic compounds which adopt the A15 crystal structure, and whose members include all technologically pertinent superconductors. Furthermore, the extreme sensitivity of the entangled states to the local structural and electronic environments emerges through the quadrupolar interaction with the electric field gradient due to the charge distribution at the nuclear (I > 1/2) sites. This case study demonstrates that positive muons can be used as a quantum sensing tool to also probe structural and charge-related phenomena in materials, even in the absence of magnetic degrees of freedom.

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