Muon Spin Society

The use of muons to probe the internal magnetic fields of materials is what unites the condensed matter physicists, chemists, and other scientists who, this summer, founded the International Society for μSR Spectroscopy (ISMS). “We felt it was important to formally organize ourselves to take advantage of the growing worldwide development of accelerator-based science facilities at which future muon sources could be built, as well as to better coordinate the capabilities of existing muon sources,” says ISMS President Robert Heffner of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. ISMS has branches in Asia, Europe, and North America. Topping the agenda in North America, Heffner adds, are upgrading the muon source at TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator in Vancouver, and exploring the feasibility of adding a muon facility to the Spallation Neutron Source under construction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.