ISIS EMU Science Highlights

EMU Science Highlights

Our Science Highlight articles cover the diverse research that takes place at our facility. Read all our Science Highlight articles using EMU below:

Investigating sodium-ion diffusion for renewable energy sources based on Prussian blue analogues (PBAs)
A team of researchers used EMU to understand the process of ion diffusion by examining battery materials at the microscopic level.
Improving Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency by Measuring Carrier Lifetimes
A team of researchers from the University of Warwick have returned to ISIS Neutron and Muon Source to continue their research on carrier recombination centres in silicon.
Studying battery cycling on the beamline
During his PhD with the University of Sheffield, ISIS facility development student Innes McClelland developed a cell for testing battery materials during their operation using muon spectroscopy and used it to study an increasingly vital cathode material.
Mapping the magnetic behaviour of an iron-based superconductor
The detailed phase diagram of a superconducting material has been fully mapped out, thanks to a combination of neutron and muon experiments.
Quantum tunnelling plays a major role in muonium reactions with larger alkanes
Scientists have found that quantum tunnelling has a dramatic effect on the rate of reaction that occurs when muonium reacts with larger alkanes.
New solid state battery material for next generation batteries
Scientists analyse candidate materials to create next generation of solid state batteries.
Combining techniques to uncover unexpected magnetic correlations
Antiferromagnetic correlations in the presence of strong valence fluctuations in CeIrSn have been confirmed using a range of techniques including muon spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering.
New solid-state battery material for next generation batteries
Using neutron and muon techniques, researchers have tested a new material that could be used inside a solid-state battery.
Muons show weak magnetism in a high capacitance, low loss dielectric material
The effect of d orbital occupation on magnetic interactions
A research group from the University of Sheffield have worked alongside ISIS staff using multiple techniques to investigate magnetic interactions inside perovskite materials: finding that the occupation of the d orbitals plays a key role.
Negative muons used alongside positive muons to measure lithium diffusion in battery materials
For the first time, a combination of positive- and negative-muon spin rotation and relaxation (μ±SR) has been used to measure lithium-ion diffusion in a magnetic battery material.
Muons for understanding ion diffusion in energy materials
The ability of ions to move within a material is crucial to the performance of next-generation energy devices such as batteries and fuel cells, and muons offer a method to study this movement.
Muons measure magnesium migration
The first muon study of magnesium diffusion has used EMU to improve the understanding of how these ions move through solid-state materials, with applications for battery technology.
A novel sodium-rich double perovskite proves promising for new battery technologies
Understanding the performance of hydrogen storage materials
Combining insights from neutrons and muons to explain magnetic transitions.
Using muon spin relaxation experiments on EMU and HiFi alongside neutron powder diffraction on WISH has enabled the characterisation of the complex phases of a metamagnetic shape memory alloy: a material that can produce force under a magnetic field.
Thinking outside the triangle: Quantum Spin Liquid formed in an unexpected way
A team of researchers from the University of Liverpool and McMaster University observed unusual magnetic behaviour in the perovskite-related metal oxide TbInO3 using HRPD, MuSR and EMU at ISIS.
Might muons and a microwave make marvellous materials?
Captured in stars like the sun, energy has been stored since the formation of the universe itself. This solar power lies amongst all kinds of energy stores such as wind, plant and tidal sources that help feed our global appetite for energy.
Nanoparticles, small but mighty
Nanoparticles, defined as being between 100 and 1 nanometers in size, stir excitement amongst researchers due to a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical and electronic fields.
Researchers using ISIS neutron and muon beams win prestigious Europhysics prize
The 2012 Europhysics Prize for condensed matter physics has been awarded to...
Quantum mapmakers complete first voyage through spin liquid
Scientists from two of Oxfordshire’s leading research centres have completed the painstaking and careful mapping of the features of one of the most exotic states of matter in the universe found close to absolute zero in a particular example of a chemicall
Muons reveal the secrets of hydrogen storage in semiconductors
Zinc oxide is a transparent semiconductor material which could play a vital part in a number of new applications such as energy-efficient white lighting.