Engineering topics

Lankford, W. F.

Publications and source records attributed to Lankford, W. F..

4 records

NASA NTRS1989

Studies of superconducting materials with muon spin rotation

The muon spin rotation/relaxation technique was found to be an exceptionally effective means of measuring the magnetic properties of superconductors, including the new high temperature superconductor materials, at the microscopic level. The technique directly measures the magnetic penetration depth (type II superconductors (SC's)) and detects the presence of magnetic ordering (antiferromagnetism or spin-glass ordering were observed in some high temperature superconductor (HTSC's) and in many closely related compounds). Extensive studies of HTSC materials were conducted by the Virginia State University - College of William and Mary - Columbia University collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory and TRIUMF (Vancouver). A survey of LaSrCuO and YBaCaCuO systems shows an essentially linear relationship between the transition temperature T(sub c) and the relaxation rate. This appears to be a manifestation of the proportionality between T(sub c) and the Fermi energy, which suggests a high energy scale for the SC coupling, and which is not consistent with the weak coupling of phonon-mediated SC. Studies of LaCuO and YBaCuO parent compounds show clear evidence of antiferromagnetism. YBa2Cu(3-x)CO(x)O7 shows the simultaneous presence of spin-glass magnetic ordering and superconductivity. Three-dimensional SC, (Ba, K) BiO3, unlike the layered CuO-based compounds, shows no suggestion of magnetic ordering. Experimental techniques and theoretical implications are discussed.

Davis, Michael R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Muon motion in titanium hydride

Motional narrowing of the transverse-field muon spin rotation signal was observed in gamma-TiH(x) for x = 1.83, 1.97, and 1.99. An analysis of the data for TiH1.99 near room temperature indicates that the mechanism responsible for the motion of the muon out of the octahedral site is thermally activated diffusion with an attempt frequency comparable to the optical vibrations of the lattice. Monte Carlo calculations to simulate the effect of muon and proton motion upon the muon field-correlation time were used to interpret the motional narrowing in TiH1.97 near 500 K. The interpretation is dependent upon whether the Bloembergen, Purcell, and Pound (BPP) theory or an independent spin-pair relaxation model is used to obtain the vacancy jump rate from proton NMR T1 measurements. Use of BPP theory shows that the field-correction time can be obtained if the rate of motion of the muon with respect to the rate of the motion for the protons is decreased. An independent spin-pair relaxation model indicates that the field-correlation time can be obtained if the rate of motion for the nearest-neighbor protons is decreased.

Kempton, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Uniaxial stress induced symmetry breaking for muon sites in Fe

Uniaxial stress was used on Fe single crystals to induce muon precession frequency shifts. The frequency shift for a nominally pure Fe sample at 302K was -0.34 + or - .023 MHz per 100 microstrain along the 100 magnetization axis. This corresponds to a change of magnetic field at the muon of 25.1 + to 1.6G/100 magnetic moment. For an Fe (3wt%Si) single crystal the shifts were -0.348 + or - .008 MHz/100 magnetic moment. The agreement between the shifts for Fe and Fe(3wt%Si) shows the effect to be intrinsic to iron and not strongly impurity sensitive. These shifts and their temperature dependence (1/T) are dominated by the effect of strain inducted population shifts between crystallographically equivalent, but mgnetically inequivalent sites. Their magnitudes are in good agreement ith previous theoretical predictions and by previous extrapolation from calculations on Nb and V especially if both 4T(0) and 1T sites contribute comparably.

Kossler, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Muon hyperfine fields in iron and its dilute alloys

The temperature dependence of the interstitial magnetic field, B, as determined by the rotation of the spin of the muon, has been measured for dilute polycrystalline iron alloys with Mo, Ti, and Nb additions over a temperature range of 240 to 633 K. In all cases the behaviors differ from one another and from the Fe(Al) alloys previously studied. B, which is negative with respect to the magnetization, is increased in magnitude by Al and Mo, and decreased greatly by Ti. The addition of Nb creates a two-phase alloy from which the role of heterogeneity and/or strain on B in iron can be assessed. If the temperature dependence of the hyperfine field extracted from B for Fe(Mo) alloys is interpreted on the model previously used to discuss the Fe(Al) data, then the muon must be attracted to the Mo atom while repelled by the Al atoms as the temperature decreases.

Stronach, C. E.↗