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cern_1

muon spin-lattice relaxation experiments ar CERN. The beam of spin polarised muons enters from the right through one pole of the magnet. The velocity of the mons is reduced so as to be thermaised and localised in the sample (Na-NH3 at 4K). The muons precess around the magnetic field, interact with the environment in which they are trapped, and gradually lose spin coference, dropping back to a Boltzman distribution of the two spin states. The rate at whick the de-polarisation occurs is a measure of the environment of the muon which might have been trapped in an interstitial site or have substituted for a proton. The muons decay over a time span of a few microseconds and the changing amplidude of the signal is recorded digitally for later analysis.