Hyperfine interaction studies in the David Shirley group, 1960–1975. I. Low-temperature nuclear orientation

Abstract

Under the leadership of David Shirley, the hyperfine interactions group at Berkeley became one of the world’s leading laboratories for its diversity of studies of the interaction between probe nuclei and their environment. One branch of those studies, low-temperature nuclear orientation, concerned the radioactive decays of nuclei whose spins were oriented in a variety of electromagnetic environments at temperatures in the mK range. In the years 1960–1975, this group did pioneering research that produced more than 50 papers in the field, and at least 16 graduate students completed their dissertation research. The present paper gives a brief introduction to the field of low-temperature nuclear orientation, summarizes the main accomplishments of the Shirley group, and discusses examples of the variety of results obtained in the group’s research. Paper II deals with other hyperfine interaction studies by the Shirley group.