ISIS HiFi Science Highlights

HiFi Science Highlights

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

Understanding silicon photovoltaics one muon at a time
Researchers at ISIS have been investigating a new technique for characterising the charge carrier lifetime of silicon substances, such as those used in solar cells.
Nine-year mystery over unusual low-temperature behaviour of topological magnets explained by distinctive electronic structure
The low temperature electronic and magnetic behaviour of materials hosting a topological magnetic state known as a soliton has been explained with the help of muon-spin spectroscopy experiments made at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.
Layering Up
Using muons, researchers have been able to identify layers of different quantum spin liquid phases present in the same material.
Muons give molecular insight into ISIS magnets
Using muons on HiFi, ISIS electrical engineer Ben Orton has been able to identify the behaviour of the charges within materials in the accelerator magnet dielectrics at an atomic scale.
Photoexcited µSR used to measure carrier kinetics in semiconductor materials
Corannulene shows promise as a hydrogen store
Controlling a beamline from across the Atlantic
With ISIS now operating under remote access, users are running experiments from their own institutions, including a group who have been “on” HiFi while remaining in Canada.
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.
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.
Muons provide a new method for measuring excess carrier lifetime in bulk silicon
Silicon wafers are one of the workhorses of the electronic age, widely used in integrated circuits and many photosensitive devices.
Photo µSR gives insights into key industrial processes and fundamental science
A group of scientists have been working with ISIS to develop the technique of photo-µSR, which they believe will allow them to watch these processes occur, atom by atom.
Muons make the most of waste heat
Approximately 90% of the world’s electricity comes from heat energy generated by fossil fuels. These power stations operate at about 30 – 40% efficiency, with the remaining heat being lost to the environment.
The role of spin-orbit interaction in organic semiconductors
Traditional electronics relies on the charge of an electron to carry information. But the demand for smaller, faster electronics has caused scientists to look at another property of electrons – spin.
Muonium and hydrogen centres in sulphur
Muon level-crossing resonance and supercell calculations show how ion-implanted muons and protons create molecular radicals that can switch conformation on subnanosecond timescales and initiate polysulphide generation.
Muons explore a new plateau
Dynamics of a frustrated magnet revealed
Molecular magnets at crossing point
First detection of an energy level crossing in a molecular nanomagnet with implanted muons.
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