Abstract
We identified in this experiment two muon configurations in Lu2O3, the oxygen-bound (O-Mu+) ground state and a metastable (energy barrier 0.7(3) eV) atom-like excited state. These configurations are partially not formed immediately after implantation but somewhat delayed due to the requirement of a lattice rearrangement around the muon. These rearrangement processes occur on a timescale of ns to µs and are thus observable in µSR experiments. A special role plays a fairly long-lived (ns to µs) transition state as an intermediate step in the reaction process.
Highlights
Oxides, including rare earth oxides, are currently under intense scrutiny in the context of applications in electronic devices [1,2,3]
Thorough ab-initio calculations have been performed for the hydrogen impurity in the diamagnetic lutetium sesquioxide Lu2O3 [10], which have prompted a close inspection of the corresponding experimental muonium configurations
Measurements in high-transverse field (Fig. 1) reveal the presence of two oscillating components of the muon spin polarization, at the muon Larmor frequency νd = γμB, and at the frequency ν12 corresponding to a muonium configuration with an isotropic hyperfine parameter A = 3629(2) MHz
Summary
Oxides, including rare earth oxides, are currently under intense scrutiny in the context of applications in electronic devices [1,2,3]. The electronic properties of this bound state of a positive muon and an electron mimic very closely those of hydrogen, and the spectroscopy of the muon spin using implanted muons presents the further advantage of allowing to probe the ground state as well as metastable configurations (usually implied in high-temperature dynamical behaviour). Despite their growing relevance, not much is known about the hydrogen or muonium configurations in rare-earth oxides. Thorough ab-initio calculations have been performed for the hydrogen impurity in the diamagnetic lutetium sesquioxide Lu2O3 [10], which have prompted a close inspection of the corresponding experimental muonium configurations
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