Abstract
We have found that a positive muon () implanted into LiF, NaF, Ca, or Ba pulls two ions together in a strong "hydrogen bond" until the nuclei are separated by roughly twice the nominal ionic radius, with the midway between. The resultant "" center is easily observed via the distinctive behavior of the collinear spin system (coupled by dipole-dipole interactions between the muon and the fluorine nuclei) in both transverse-field muon-spin rotation and zero-field muon-spin relaxation experiments. We speculate that implanted ions may initially form similar hydrogen bonds between adjacent ions in many metal fluoride crystals.
- Received 25 October 1985
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.33.7813
©1986 American Physical Society