Staff profile

Muon spectroscopy: an introduction

Oxford University Press has now published Muon Spectroscopy: an introduction, a new textbook on the technique of muon spin rotation and relaxation. This book has been edited by Stephen Blundell (Oxford), Roberto De Renzi (Parma), Tom Lancaster (Durham) and Francis Pratt (ISIS).

Muons, radioactive particles produced in accelerators, have emerged as an important tool to study problems in condensed matter physics and chemistry. Beams of muons with all their spins polarized can be used to investigate a variety of static and dynamic effects and hence to deduce properties concerning magnetism, superconductivity, molecular or chemical dynamics and a large number of other phenomena. The technique was originally the preserve of a few specialists located in particle physics laboratories. Today it is used by scientists from a very wide range of scientific backgrounds and interests. 

This modern, pedagogic introduction to muon spectroscopy is written with the beginner in the field in mind, but also aims to serve as a reference for more experienced researchers. The key principles are illustrated by numerous practical examples of the application of the technique to different areas of science and there are many worked examples and problems provided to test understanding. The book vividly demonstrates the power of the technique to extract important information in many different scientific contexts, all stemming, ultimately, from the exquisite magnetic sensitivity of the implanted muon spin.

Quantum field theory for the gifted amateur

A book by Stephen Blundell and myself, introducing the quantum theory of fields, is out now! Please see the book's website for further information.

Research Interests

When atoms form a solid and electrons interact collective phenomena emerge. These phenomena include the phases of magnetic order, superfluidity and superconductivity, the emergence of new particles such as the magnon or the phonon and the occurence of topological objects such as kinks and vortices. Condensed matter physics is the investigation of this exotic world and provides the same fundamental insight into the Universe as the study of elementary particles or black holes.

I use muons to investigate condensed matter physics. Muons are subatomic particles that act as microscopic probes of magnetism. Subjects in which I'm interested include collective states of matter such as magnets, superconductors and glasses along with their excitations such as spin waves, vortices and diffusion. My work covers a wide range of scales from the quantum mechanical interaction of nuclei to the large scale dynamics of polymer chains.

•  Muons

Muons have a spin 1/2, which will Larmour precess in a magnetic field. They are also unstable and live for only 2.2 us (on average!). We detect their decay products and these tell us essentially which way each muon-spin was pointing at the moment of death. The technique we employ is known as muon-spin relaxation and involves stopping muons in materials where they precess until they decay. This tells us about the local magnetic fields in a material, making it useful for investigating magnets and the vortex phase in superconductors. Muons are produced using particle accelerators based at large facilities. I use the ISIS facility (http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/) in the UK, which is the world's most intense source of pulsed muons and neutrons and the Swiss Muon Source based at the Paul Scherrer Institut (http://www.psi.ch/).

•  Magnetism in reduced dimensions

Despite being one of the oldest discoveries in Physics, magnetism is relatively poorly understood. In some very beautiful systems, magnetic interactions may be constrained to act along a line of atoms (one-dimension) or in a plane of atoms (two-dimensions). These different dimensionalities are of fundamental importance and lead to exotic physical properties. An effective route to investigating these low-dimensional (i.e. 2D and 1D) phenomena is through the study of molecular magnets, which are self-assembled polymers formed through bridging paramagnetic cations (such as Cu2+) with organic molecular building blocks. The richness of carbon chemistry means that, in principle, molecular magnets can be nano-engineered to exhibit low dimensional properties.

•  Frustrated magnets

In some magnets interactions tend to oppose each other's influence and are therefore in competition. Such systems are said to be frustrated; it is not possible to satisfy all of the magnetic interactions to find the material's ground state. Materials showing these effects offer an insight into the factors that cause systems to adopt a particular ground state (such as permanently magnetic or disordered). One particularly exciting possibility for a frustrated system is the formation of a spin liquid state. This is a long sought after phase of matter which shows no long range magnetic order down to zero temperature, but which is nonetheless stable. In fact, we believe that we recently may have found such a state in an organic magnet!

•  Unconventional superconductors

Understanding unconventional superconductors is perhaps the most urgent problem in condensed matter physics. Many of the clues suggest that the behaviour of these materials is caused by a subtle interplay of magnetism and superconductivity. Muons are ideal probes of such systems since not only are we able to probe magnetism, but we may also use muons to map the field distribution within the superconducting vortex state allowing an accurate determination of the superconducting penetration depth. My interests currently lie in the recently discovered iron arsenide superconductors, where magnetism, structural distortions and superconductivity coexist across a rich phase diagram. 

• Centre for Materials Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Muon Physics
• XDur

• 2020: President of the International Society for Muon Spectroscopy:

Authored book

• Gibb, S., Hendry, R.F. & Lancaster, T. (2019). The Routledge Handbook of Emergence. Taylor \& Francis.
• Lancaster, Tom & Blundell, Stephen J (2014). Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur. Oxford University Press.

Chapter in book

• Lancaster, Tom (2022). The Metal: A Model for Modern Physics. In From Electrons to Elephants and Elections. Springer. 361.
• Clark, S.J. & Lancaster, T. (2017). The Use of Downward Causation in Condensed Matter Physics. In Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Downward Causation. Paoletti, Michele Paolini & Orilia, Francesco New York: Routledge. 131-145.

Conference Paper

• Kirschner, Franziska K. K., Lang, Franz, Pratt, Francis L., Lancaster, Tom, Shi, Youguo, Guo, Yanfeng, Boothroyd, Andrew T. & Blundell, Stephen J. (2018), Static and Fluctuating Magnetic Moments in the Ferroelectric Metal LiOsO3, 21: 14th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance (μSR2017). Sapporo, Physical Society of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, 011013.

Edited book

• Blundell, S.J. De Renzi, R. Lancaster, T. & Pratt, F.L. (2021). Muon Spectroscopy: an Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Journal Article

• Bag, Rabindranath, Dissanayake, Sachith E., Yan, Han, Shi, Zhenzhong, Graf, David, Choi, Eun Sang, Marjerrison, Casey, Lang, Franz, Lancaster, Tom, Qiu, Yiming, Chen, Wangchun, Blundell, Stephen J., Nevidomskyy, Andriy H. & Haravifard, Sara (2023). Beyond single tetrahedron physics of the breathing pyrochlore compound Ba3Yb2Zn5O11. Physical Review B 107(14).
• Opherden, D., Tepaske, M. S. J., Bärtl, F., Weber, M., Turnbull, M. M., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J., Baenitz, M., Wosnitza, J., Landee, C. P., Moessner, R., Luitz, D. J. & Kühne, H. (2023). Field-Tunable Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Correlations in a Heisenberg Magnet. Physical Review Letters 130(8).
• Huddart, B. M., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J., Guguchia, Z., Taniguchi, H., Clark, S. J. & Pratt, F. L. (2023). μSR investigation of magnetism in κ−(ET)2X Antiferromagnetism. Physical Review Research 5(1): 013015.
• Pratt, F L, Lang, F, Blundell, S J, Steinhardt, W, Haravifard, S, Mañas-Valero, S, Coronado, E, Huddart, B M & Lancaster, T (2023). Studying spin diffusion and quantum entanglement with LF-µSR. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2462(1): 012038.
• Huddart, B.M., Hernández-Melián, A., Hicken, T.J., Gomilšek, M., Hawkhead, Z., Clark, S.J., Pratt, F.L. & Lancaster, T. (2022). MuFinder: A program to determine and analyse muon stopping sites. Computer Physics Communications 280: 108488.
• Billington, David, Riordan, Edward, Salman, Majdi, Margineda, Daniel, Gill, George J. W., Cottrell, Stephen P., McKenzie, Iain, Lancaster, Tom, Graf, Michael J. & Giblin, Sean R. (2022). Radio-Frequency Manipulation of State Populations in an Entangled Fluorine-Muon-Fluorine System. Physical Review Letters 129(7).
• Berlie, Adam, Pratt, Francis L., Huddart, Benjamin M., Lancaster, Tom & Cottrell, Stephen P. (2022). Muon-Nitrogen Quadrupolar Level Crossing Resonance in a Charge Transfer Salt. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 126(17): 7529-7534.
• Hicken, T. J., Wilson, M. N., Holt, S. J. R., Khassanov, R., Lees, M. R., Gupta, R., Das, D., Balakrishnan, G. & Lancaster, T. (2022). Magnetism in the Néel-skyrmion host GaV4S8 under pressure. Physical Review B 105(13).
• Hicken, T. J., Hawkhead, Z., Wilson, M. N., Huddart, B. M., Hall, A. E., Balakrishnan, G., Wang, C., Pratt, F. L., Clark, S. J. & Lancaster, T. (2022). Energy-gap driven low-temperature magnetic and transport properties in Cr1/3MS2(M = Nb, Ta). Physical Review B 105(6): L060407.
• Mitschek, Merlin, Hicken, Thomas J., Yang, Shuai, Wilson, Murray N., Pratt, Francis L., Wang, Chennan, Blundell, Stephen J., Li, Zhilin, Li, Yongqing, Lancaster, Tom & Müller, Jens (2022). Probing the magnetic polaron state in the ferromagnetic semiconductor HgCr2Se4 with muon-spin spectroscopy and resistance-fluctuation measurements. Physical Review B 105(6): 064404.
• Curley, S. P. M., Huddart, B. M., Kamenskyi, D., Coak, M. J., Williams, R. C., Ghannadzadeh, S., Schneider, A., Okubo, S., Sakurai, T., Ohta, H., Tidey, J. P., Graf, D., Clark, S. J., Blundell, S. J., Pratt, F. L., Telling, M. T. F., Lancaster, T., Manson, J. L. & Goddard, P. A. (2021). Anomalous magnetic exchange in a dimerized quantum magnet composed of unlike spin species. Physical Review B 104(21): 214435.
• Wilkinson, J. M., Pratt, F. L., Lancaster, T., Baker, P. J. & Blundell, S. J. (2021). Muon sites in PbF2 and YF3: Decohering environments and the role of anion Frenkel defects. Physical Review B 104(22): L220409.
• Huddart, B.M., Onuorah, I. J. Isah, M. M. Bonfa, P. Blundell, S. J. Clark, S. J., De Renzi, R. & Lancaster, T (2021). Intrinsic nature of spontaneous magnetic fields in superconductors with time-reversal symmetry breaking. Physical Review Letters 127(23): 237002.
• Wilson, M. N., Hicken, T. J., Gomilšek, M., Štefančič, A., Balakrishnan, G., Loudon, J. C., Twitchett-Harrison, A. C., Pratt, F. L., Telling, M. & Lancaster, T. (2021). Spin dynamics in bulk MnNiGa and Mn1.4Pt0.9Pd0.1Sn investigated by muon spin relaxation. Physical Review B 104(13): 134414.
• Mañas-Valero, Samuel, Huddart, Benjamin M., Lancaster, Tom, Coronado, Eugenio & Pratt, Francis L. (2021). Quantum phases and spin liquid properties of 1T-TaS2. npj Quantum Materials 6(1): 69.
• Blundell, Stephen J., Lancaster, Tom, Baker, Peter J., Pratt, Francis L., Shiomi, Daisuke, Sato, Kazunobu & Takui, Takeji (2021). The Internal Field in a Ferromagnetic Crystal with Chiral Molecular Packing of Achiral Organic Radicals. Magnetochemistry 7(5): 71.
• Curley, S. P. M., Scatena, R., Williams, R. C., Goddard, P. A., Macchi, P., Hicken, T. J., Lancaster, T., Xiao, F., Blundell, S. J., Zapf, V., Eckert, J. C., Krenkel, E. H., Villa, J. A., Rhodehouse, M. L. & Manson, J. L. (2021). Magnetic ground state of the one-dimensional ferromagnetic chain compounds M(NCS)2(thiourea)2 (M=Ni,Co). Physical Review Materials 5(3): 034401.
• Huddart, B. M., Gomilšek, M., Hicken, T. J., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Goddard, P. A., Kaech, S. J., Manson, J. L. & Lancaster, T. (2021). Magnetic order and ballistic spin transport in a sine-Gordon spin chain. Physical Review B 103(6): L060405.
• Hicken, T. J., Wilson, M. N., Franke, K. J. A., Huddart, B. M., Hawkhead, Z., Gomilšek, M., Clark, S. J., Pratt, F. L., Štefančič, A., Hall, A. E., Ciomaga Hatnean, M., Balakrishnan, G. & Lancaster, T. (2021). Megahertz dynamics in skyrmion systems probed with muon-spin relaxation. Physical Review B 103(2).
• Xiao, F., Blackmore, W. J. A., Huddart, B. M., Gomilšek, M., Hicken, T. J., Baines, C., Baker, P. J., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Lu, H., Singleton, J., Gawryluk, D., Turnbull, M. M., Krämer, K. W., Goddard, P. A. & Lancaster, T. (2020). Magnetic order and disorder in a quasi-two-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet with randomized exchange. Physical Review B 102(17): 174429.
• Tustain, Katherine, Ward-O’Brien, Brendan, Bert, Fabrice, Han, Tianheng, Luetkens, Hubertus, Lancaster, Tom, Huddart, Benjamin M., Baker, Peter J. & Clark, Lucy (2020). From magnetic order to quantum disorder in the Zn-barlowite series of S = 1/2 kagomé antiferromagnets. npj Quantum Materials 5(1): 74.
• Opherden, D., Nizar, N., Richardson, K., Monroe, J. C., Turnbull, M. M., Polson, M., Vela, S., Blackmore, W. J. A., Goddard, P. A., Singleton, J., Choi, E. S., Xiao, F., Williams, R. C., Lancaster, T., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Skourski, Y., Uhlarz, M., Ponomaryov, A. N., Zvyagin, S. A., Wosnitza, J., Baenitz, M., Heinmaa, I., Stern, R., Kühne, H. & Landee, C. P. (2020). Extremely well isolated two-dimensional spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg layers with a small exchange coupling in the molecular-based magnet CuPOF. Physical Review B 102(6): 064431.
• Arh, T., Gomilšek, M., Prelovšek, P., Pregelj, M., Klanjšek, M., Ozarowski, A., Clark, S. J., Lancaster, T., Sun, W., Mi, J.-X. & Zorko, A. (2020). Origin of Magnetic Ordering in a Structurally Perfect Quantum Kagome Antiferromagnet. Physical Review Letters 125(2): 027203.
• Hicken, T. J., Holt, S. J. R., Franke, K. J. A., Hawkhead, Z., Štefančič, A., Wilson, M. N., Gomilšek, M., Huddart, B. M., Clark, S. J., Lees, M. R., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Balakrishnan, G. & Lancaster, T. (2020). Magnetism and Néel skyrmion dynamics in GaV4S8−ySey. Physical Review Research 2(3): 032001.
• Štefančič, Aleš, Holt, Samuel J. R., Lees, Martin R., Ritter, Clemens, Gutmann, Matthias J., Lancaster, Tom & Balakrishnan, Geetha (2020). Establishing magneto-structural relationships in the solid solutions of the skyrmion hosting family of materials: GaV4S8−ySey. Scientific Reports 10(1): 9813.
• Williams, Robert C., Blackmore, William J. A., Curley, Samuel P. M., Lees, Martin R., Birnbaum, Serena M., Singleton, John, Huddart, Benjamin M., Hicken, Thomas J., Lancaster, Tom, Blundell, Stephen J., Xiao, Fan, Ozarowski, Andrew, Pratt, Francis L., Voneshen, David J., Guguchia, Zurab, Baines, Christopher, Schlueter, John A., Villa, Danielle Y., Manson, Jamie L. & Goddard, Paul A. (2020). Near-ideal molecule-based Haldane spin chain. Physical Review Research 2(1): 013082.
• Manson, Jamie L., Manson, Zachary E., Sargent, Ashley, Villa, Danielle Y., Etten, Nicole L., Blackmore, William J.A., Curley, Samuel P.M., Williams, Robert C., Brambleby, Jamie, Goddard, Paul A., Ozarowski, Andrew, Wilson, Murray N., Huddart, Benjamin M., Lancaster, Tom, Johnson, Roger D., Blundell, Stephen J., Bendix, Jesper, Wheeler, Kraig A., Lapidus, Saul H., Xiao, Fan, Birnbaum, Serena & Singleton, John (2020). Enhancing easy-plane anisotropy in bespoke Ni(II) quantum magnets. Polyhedron 180: 114379.
• Lancaster, Tom (2019). Skyrmions in magnetic materials. Contemporary Physics 60(3): 246.
• Franke, K. J. A., Dean, P. R., Hatnean, M. Ciomaga, Birch, M. T., Khalyavin, D. D., Manuel, P., Lancaster, T., Balakrishnan, G. & Hatton, P. D. (2019). Investigating the magnetic ground state of the skyrmion host material Cu2OSeO3 using long-wavelength neutron diffraction. AIP Advances 9(12): 125228.
• Blackmore, W J A, Brambleby, J, Lancaster, T, Clark, S J, Johnson, R D, Singleton, J, Ozarowski, A, Schlueter, J A, Chen, Y-S, Arif, A M, Lapidus, S, Xiao, F, Williams, R C, Blundell, S J, Pearce, M J, Lees, M R, Manuel, P, Villa, D Y, Villa, J A, Manson, J L & Goddard, P A (2019). Determining the anisotropy and exchange parameters of polycrystalline spin-1 magnets. New Journal of Physics 21(9): 093025.
• Birch, M. T., Takagi, R., Seki, S., Wilson, M. N., Kagawa, F., Štefančič, A., Balakrishnan, G., Fan, R., Steadman, P., Ottley, C. J., Crisanti, M., Cubitt, R., Lancaster, T., Tokura, Y. & Hatton, P. D. (2019). Increased lifetime of metastable skyrmions by controlled doping. Physical Review B 100(1): 014425.
• Lancaster, T, Huddart, B M, Williams, R C, Xiao, F, Franke, K J A, Baker, P J, Pratt, F L, Blundell, S J, Schlueter, J A, Mills, M B, Maahs, A C & Preuss, K E (2019). Probing magnetic order and disorder in the one-dimensional molecular spin chains CuF2(pyz) and [Ln(hfac)3(boaDTDA)] n (Ln  =  Sm, La) using implanted muons. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 31(39): 394002.
• Huddart, Benjamin, Birch, Max T, Pratt, Francis, Blundell, Stephen, Porter, Dan G, Clark, Stewart J, Wu, Wenlong, Julian, Stephen R, Hatton, Peter & Lancaster, Tom (2019). Local magnetism, magnetic order and spin freezing in the "nonmetallic metal" FeCrAs. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 31(28): 285803.
• McLeish, Tom, Pexton, Mark & Lancaster, Tom (2019). Emergence and topological order in classical and quantum systems. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 66: 155-169.
• Choi, Sungkyun, Manni, S., Singleton, J., Topping, C. V., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J., Adroja, D. T., Zapf, V., Gegenwart, P. & Coldea, R. (2019). Spin dynamics and field-induced magnetic phase transition in the honeycomb Kitaev magnet α−Li2IrO3. Physical Review B 99(5): 054426.
• Liu, J., Kittaka, S., Johnson, R. D., Lancaster, T., Singleton, J., Sakakibara, T., Kohama, Y., van Tol, J., Ardavan, A., Williams, B. H., Blundell, S. J., Manson, Z. E., Manson, J. L. & Goddard, P. A. (2019). Unconventional Field-Induced Spin Gap in an S=1/2 Chiral Staggered Chain. Physical Review Letters 122(5): 057207.
• Kirschner, Franziska K. K., Johnson, Roger D., Lang, Franz, Khalyavin, Dmitry D., Manuel, Pascal, Lancaster, Tom, Prabhakaran, Dharmalingam & Blundell, Stephen J. (2019). Spin Jahn-Teller antiferromagnetism in CoTi2O5. Physical Review B 99(6): 064403.
• Huddart, Benjamin, Brambleby, Jamie, Lancaster, Tom, Goddard, Paul, Xiao, Fan, Blundell, Stephen J, Pratt, Francis L, Singleton, John, Macchi, Piero, Scatena, Rebecca, Barton, Alyssa & Manson, Jamie L (2019). Magnetic order and enhanced exchange in the quasi-one-dimensional molecule-based antiferromagnet Cu(NO3)2(pyz)3. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 21(3): 1014-1018.
• Cortés-Ortuño, David, Beg, Marijan, Nehruji, Vanessa, Breth, Leoni, Pepper, Ryan, Kluyver, Thomas, Downing, Gary, Hesjedal, Thorsten, Hatton, Peter, Lancaster, Tom, Hertel, Riccardo, Hovorka, Ondrej & Fangohr, Hans (2018). Proposal for a micromagnetic standard problem for materials with Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction. New Journal of Physics 20(11): 113015.
• Štefančič, A., Moody, S. H., Hicken, T. J., Birch, M. T., Balakrishnan, G., Barnett, S. A., Crisanti, M., Evans, J. S. O., Holt, S. J. R., Franke, K. J. A., Hatton, P. D., Huddart, B. M., Lees, M. R., Pratt, F. L., Tang, C. C., Wilson, M. N., Xiao, F. & Lancaster, T. (2018). Origin of skyrmion lattice phase splitting in Zn-substituted Cu2OSeO3. Physical Review Materials 2(11): 111402(R).
• Lancaster, T, Xiao, F, Huddart, B M, Williams, R C, Pratt, F L, Blundell, S J, Clark, S J, Scheuermann, R, Goko, T, Ward, S, Manson, J L, Rüegg, Ch & Krämer, K W (2018). Quantum magnetism in molecular spin ladders probed with muon-spin spectroscopy. New Journal of Physics 20(10): 103002.
• Franke, Kévin J. A., Huddart, Benjamin M., Hicken, Thomas J., Xiao, Fan, Blundell, Stephen J., Pratt, Francis L., Crisanti, Marta, Barker, Joel A. T., Clark, Stewart J., Štefančič, Aleš, Hatnean, Monica Ciomaga, Balakrishnan, Geetha & Lancaster, Tom (2018). Magnetic phases of skyrmion-hosting GaV4S8−ySey (y = 0, 2, 4, 8) probed with muon spectroscopy. Physical Review B 98(5): 054428.
• Duffy, L. B., Steinke, N.-J., Krieger, J. A., Figueroa, A. I., Kummer, K., Lancaster, T., Giblin, S. R., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Prokscha, T., Suter, A., Langridge, S., Strocov, V. N., Salman, Z., van der Laan, G. & Hesjedal, T. (2018). Microscopic effects of Dy doping in the topological insulator Bi2Te3. Physical Review B 97(17): 174427.
• Manson, Jamie L., Brambleby, Jamie, Goddard, Paul A., Spurgeon, Peter M., Villa, Jacqueline A., Liu, Junjie, Ghannadzadeh, Saman, Foronda, Francesca, Singleton, John, Lancaster, Tom, Clark, Stewart J., Thomas, Iorwerth O., Xiao, Fan, Williams, Robert C., Pratt, Francis L., Blundell, Stephen J., Topping, Craig V., Baines, Christopher, Campana, Charles & Noll, Bruce (2018). Implications of bond disorder in a S=1 kagome lattice. Scientific Reports 8(1): 4745.
• Schoonmaker, R., Lancaster, T. & Clark, S. J. (2018). Quantum mechanical tunneling in the automerization of cyclobutadiene. The Journal of Chemical Physics 148(10): 104109.
• Mergenthaler, Matthias, Liu, Junjie, Le Roy, Jennifer J., Ares, Natalia, Thompson, Amber L., Bogani, Lapo, Luis, Fernando, Blundell, Stephen J., Lancaster, Tom, Ardavan, Arzhang, Briggs, G. Andrew D., Leek, Peter J. & Laird, Edward A. (2017). Strong Coupling of Microwave Photons to Antiferromagnetic Fluctuations in an Organic Magnet. Physical Review Letters 119(14): 147701.
• Khuntia, P., Manni, S., Foronda, F. R., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J., Gegenwart, P. & Baenitz, M. (2017). Local magnetism and spin dynamics of the frustrated honeycomb rhodate Li2RhO3. Physical Review B 96(9): 094432.
• Thomas, I. O., Clark, S. J. & Lancaster, T. (2017). Exchange constants in molecule-based magnets derived from density functional methods. Physical Review B 96(9): 094403.
• Wang, Chun-Hai, Ainsworth, C. M., Champion, S. D., Stewart, G. A., Worsdale, M. C., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J., Brand, Helen E. A. & Evans, John S. O. (2017). Crystal structure and magnetic modulation in β−Ce2O2FeSe2. Physical Review Materials 1(3): 034403.
• Wang, Ruizhe, Gebretsadik, Adane, Ubaid-Kassis, Sara, Schroeder, Almut, Vojta, Thomas, Baker, Peter J., Pratt, Francis L., Blundell, Stephen J., Lancaster, Tom, Franke, Isabel, Möller, Johannes S. & Page, Katharine (2017). Quantum Griffiths phase inside the ferromagnetic phase of Ni1-xVx. Physical Review Letters 118(26): 267202.
• Zhang, S. L., Stasinopoulos, I., Lancaster, T., Xiao, F., Bauer, A., Rucker, F., Baker, A. A., Figueroa, A. I., Salman, Z., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Prokscha, T., Suter, A., Waizner, J., Garst, M., Grundler, D., van der Laan, G., Pfleiderer, C. & Hesjedal, T. (2017). Room-temperature helimagnetism in FeGe thin films. Scientific Reports 7(1): 123.
• Frawley, T., Schoonmaker, R., Lee, S. H., Du, C.-H., Steadman, P., Strempfer, J., Ziq, Kh. A., Clark, S. J., Lancaster, T. & Hatton, P. D. (2017). Elucidation of the helical spin structure of FeAs. Physical Review B 95(6): 064424.
• Brambleby, J., Goddard, P. A., Singleton, J., Jaime, M., Lancaster, T., Huang, L., Wosnitza, J., Topping, C. V., Carreiro, K. E., Tran, H. E., Manson, Z. E. & Manson, J. L. (2017). Adiabatic physics of an exchange-coupled spin-dimer system: Magnetocaloric effect, zero-point fluctuations, and possible two-dimensional universal behavior. Physical Review B 95(2): 024404.
• Möller, J.S., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S.J., Pratt, F.L., Baker, P. J., Xiao, F., Williams, R.C., Hayes, W., Turnbull, M.M. & Landee, C.P. (2017). Quantum-critical spin dynamics in a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid studied with muon-spin relaxation. Physical Review B 95(2): 020402(R).
• Mannig, A., Möller, J. S., Thede, M., Hüvonen, D., Lancaster, T., Xiao, F., Williams, R.C., Guguchia, Z., Khasanov, R., Morenzoni, E. & Zheludev, A. (2016). Effect of disorder on a pressure-induced z = 1 magnetic quantum phase transition. Physical Review B 94(14): 144418.
• Manson, Jamie L., Schlueter, John A., Garrett, Kerry E., Goddard, Paul A., Lancaster, Tom, Möller, Johannes S., Blundell, Stephen J., Steele, Andrew J., Franke, Isabel, Pratt, Francis L., Singleton, John, Bendix, Jesper, Lapidus, Saul H., Uhlarz, Marc, Ayala-Valenzuela, Oscar, McDonald, Ross D., Gurak, Mary & Baines, Christopher (2016). Bimetallic MOFs (H3O)x[Cu(MF6)(pyrazine)2]·(4 − x)H2O (M = V4+, x = 0; M = Ga3+, x = 1): co-existence of ordered and disordered quantum spins in the V4+ system. Chemical Communications 52(85): 12653-12656.
• Zhang, R.H., Abbett, B.M., Read, G., Lang, F., Lancaster, T., Tran, T.T., Halasyarnani, P.S., Blundell, S.J., Benedek, N.A. & Hayward, M.A. (2016). La2SrCr2O7: Controlling the Tilting Distortions of n=2 Ruddlesden-Popper Phases through A-Site Cation Order. Inorganic Chemistry 55(17): 8951-8960.
• Pratt, Francis L., Lancaster, Tom Baker, Peter J., Blundell, Stephen J., Prokscha, Thomas, Morenzoni, Elvezio, Suter, Andreas & Assender, Hazel E. (2016). Nanoscale depth-resolved polymer dynamics probed by the implantation of low energy muons. Polymer 105: 516-525.
• Zapf, V. S., Ueland, B. G., Laver, M., Lonsky, M., Pohlit, M., Muller, J., Lancaster, T., Moller, J.S., Blundell, S.J., Singleton, J., Mira, J., Yanez-Vilar, S. & Senarıs-Rodrıguez, M. A. (2016). Magnetization dynamics and frustration in the multiferroic double perovskite Lu2MnCoO6. Physical Review B 93(13): 134431.
• Lancaster, T., Xiao, F., Salman, Z., Thomas, I.O., Blundell, S.J., Pratt, F.L., Clark, S.J., Prokscha, T., Suter, A., Zhang, S.L., Baker, A.A. & Hesjedal, T. (2016). Transverse field muon-spin rotation measurement of the topological anomaly in a thin film of MnSi. Physical Review B 93(14): 140412(R).
• Williams, R. C., Xiao, F., Lancaster, T., De Renzi, R., Allodi, G., Bordignon, S., Freeman, P. G., Pratt, F. L., Giblin, S. R., Möller, J. S., Blundell, S. J., Boothroyd, A. T. & Prabhakaran, D. (2016). Magnetic phase diagram of La2-xSrxCoO 4 revised using muon-spin relaxation. Physical Review B 93(14): 140406(R).
• Goddard, P.A., Singleton, J., Franke, I., Möller, J. S., Lancaster, T., Steele, A. J., Topping, C. V., Blundell, S. J., Pratt, F. L., Baines, C., Bendix, J., McDonald, R. D., Brambleby, J., Lees, M. R., Lapidus, S. H., Stephens, P. W., Twamley, B. W., Conner, M. M., Funk, K., Corbey, J. F., Tran, H. E., Schlueter, J. A. & Manson, J. L. (2016). Control of the third dimension in copper-based square-lattice antiferromagnets. Physical Review B 93(9): 094430.
• Zhang, R.H., Read, G., Lang, F., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S.J. & Hayward, M.A. (2016). La2SrCr2O7F2: A Ruddlesden–Popper Oxyfluoride Containing Octahedrally Coordinated Cr4+ Centers. Inorganic Chemistry 55(6): 3169-3174.
• Liu, J, Goddard, P.A., Singleton, J, Brambleby, J, Foronda, F, Moeller, J.S, Kohama, Y, Ghannadzadeh, S, Ardavan, A, Blundell, S J, Lancaster, T, Xiao, F, Williams, R.C, Pratt, F.L., Baker, P.J., Wierschem, K, Lapidus, S.H., Stone, K.H., Stephens, P.W., Bendix, J, Woods, T.J., Carreiro, K.E., Tran, H.E., Villa, C.J. & Manson, J.L. (2016). Antiferromagnetism in a Family of S = 1 Square Lattice Coordination Polymers NiX2(pyz)2 (X = Cl, Br, I, NCS; pyz = Pyrazine). Inorganic Chemistry 55(7): 3515–3529.
• Dos Santos, L. H. R., Lanza, A, Barton, A.M., Brambleby, J., Goddard, P. A., Xiao, F., Williams, R. C., Lancaster, T., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Singleton, J., Manson, J. L. & Macchi, P. (2016). Experimental and Theoretical Electron Density Analysis of Copper Pyrazine Nitrate Quasi-Low-Dimensional Quantum Magnets. Journal of the American Chemical Society 138(7): 2280-2291.
• Williams, R.C., Xiao, F., Thomas, I.O., Clark, S.J., Lancaster, T., Cornish, G. A., Blundell, S.J., Hayes, W., Paul, A. K., Felser, C. & Jansen, M. (2016). Muon-spin relaxation study of the double perovskite insulators Sr2 BOsO6 (B  =  Fe, Y, ln). Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 28(7): 076001.
• Baker, Michael L., Lancaster, Tom, Chiesa, Alessandro, Amoretti, Giuseppe, Baker, Peter J., Barker, Claire, Blundell, Stephen J., Carretta, Stefano, Collison, David, Güdel, Hans U., Guidi, Tatiana, McInnes, Eric J. L., Möller, Johannes S., Mutka, Hannu, Ollivier, Jacques, Pratt, Francis L., Santini, Paolo, Tuna, Floriana, Tregenna-Piggott, Philip L. W., Vitorica-Yrezabal, Iñigo J., Timco, Grigore A. & Winpenny, Richard E. P. (2016). Studies of a Large Odd-Numbered Odd-Electron Metal Ring: Inelastic Neutron Scattering and Muon Spin Relaxation Spectroscopy of Cr8Mn. Chemistry - A European Journal 22(5): 1779-1788.
• Lancaster, T. & Pexton, M. (2015). Reduction and emergence in the fractional quantum Hall state. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 52(Part B): 343-357.
• Brambleby, J., Goddard, P. A., Johnson, R. D., Liu, J., Lancaster, T., Manuel, P., Baker, P. J., Singleton, J., Schwalbe, S. G., Spurgeon, P. M., Tran, H. E., Peterson, P. K., Corbey, J. F. & Manson, J. L. (2015). Magnetic ground state of the two isostructual polymeric quantum magnets [Cu(HF2)(pyrazine)2]SbF6 and [Co(HF2)(pyrazine)2]SbF6 investigated with neutron powder diffraction. Physical Review B 92(13): 134406.
• Lancaster, T., Williams, R. C., Thomas, I. O., Xiao, F., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Loudon, J. C., Hesjedal, T., Clark, S. J., Hatton, P. D., Ciomaga Hatnean, M., Keeble, D. S. & Balakrishnan, G. (2015). Transverse field muon-spin rotation signature of the skyrmion-lattice phase in Cu2OSeO3. Physical Review B 91(22): 224408.
• Xiao, F., Möller, J. S., Lancaster, T., Williams, R. C., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Ceresoli, D., Barton, A. M. & Manson, J. L. (2015). Spin diffusion in the low-dimensional molecular quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet Cu(pyz)(NO3)2 detected with implanted muons. Physical Review B 91(14): 144417.
• Ali, N. Z., Williams, R. C., Xiao, F., Clark, S. J., Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J., Sheptyakov, D. V. & Jansen, M. (2015). Magnetostructural relationship in the tetrahedral spin-chain oxide CsCoO2. Physical Review B 91(2): 024419.
• Foronda, F.R., Lang, F., Möller, J.S., Lancaster, T., Boothroyd, A.T., Pratt, F.L., Giblin, S.R., Prabhakaran, D. & Blundell, S.J. (2015). Anisotropic local modification of crystal field levels in Pr-based pyrochlores a muon-induced effect modeled using density functional theory. Physical Review Letters 114(1): 017602.
• Foronda, F. R., Ghannadzadeh, S., Sedlmaier, S. J., Wright, J. D., Burns, K., Cassidy, S. J., Goddard, P. A., Lancaster, T., Clarke, S. J. & Blundell, S. J. (2015). Robustness of superconductivity to structural disorder in Sr0.3(NH2)y(NH3)1−yFe2Se2. Physical Review B 92(13): 134517.
• Lancaster, T., Goddard, P. A., Blundell, S. J., Foronda, F. R., Ghannadzadeh, S., Möller, J. S., Baker, P. J., Pratt, F. L., Baines, C., Huang, L., Wosnitza, J., McDonald, R. D., Modic, K. A., Singleton, J., Topping, C. V., Beale, T. A. W., Xiao, F., Schlueter, J. A., Barton, A. M., Cabrera, R. D., Carreiro, K. E., Tran, H. E. & Manson, J. L. (2014). Controlling Magnetic Order and Quantum Disorder in Molecule-Based Magnets. Physical Review Letters 112(20): 207201.
• Pratt, F. L. Micotti, E. Carretta, P. Lascialfari, A. Arosio, P. Lancaster, T., Blundell, S. J. & Powell, A. K. (2014). Dipolar ordering in a molecular nanomagnet detected using muon spin relaxation. Physical Review B: condensed matter and materials physics 89(14): 144420.
• Binghai, Yan, Paul, Avijit Kumar, Kanungo, Sudipta, Reehuis, Manfred, Hoser, Andreas, Többens, Daniel M., Schnelle, Walter, Williams, Robert C., Lancaster, Tom, Xiao, Fan, Möller, Johannes S., Blundell, Stephen J., Hayes, William, Felser, Claudia & Jansen, Martin (2014). Lattice-Site-Specific Spin Dynamics in Double Perovskite Sr2CoOsO6. Physical Review Letters 112(14): 147202.
• Sheckelton, J.P., Foronda, F.R. Pan, L.D. Moir, C., McDonald, R.D. Lancaster, T., Baker, P.J. Armitage, N.P. Imai, T., Blundell, S.J. & McQueen, T.M. (2014). Local magnetism and spin correlations in the geometrically frustrated cluster magnet LiZn2Mo3O8. Physical Review B: condensed matter and materials physics 89(6): 064407.
• Lancaster, T., Giblin, S.R. Allodi, G. Bordignon, S., Mazzani, M., De Renzi, R., Freeman, P.G. Baker, P.J. Pratt, F.L. Babkevich, P., Blundell, S.J. Boothroyd, A.T., Moller, J.S. & Prabhakaran, D. (2014). Stripe disorder and dynamics in the hole-doped antiferromagnetic insulator La5/3Sr1/3CoO4. Physical Review B: condensed matter and materials physics 89(2): 020405(R).
• Schroeder, A., Wang, R., Baker, P. J., Pratt, F. L., Blundell, S. J., Lancaster, T., Franke, I. & Möller, J. S. (2014). Probing the magnetic phases in the Ni-V alloy close to the disordered ferromagnetic quantum critical point with μSR. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 551(1): 012003.
• Pratt, F.L., Lancaster, T. Blundell, S.J. & Baines, C. (2013). Low-Field Superconducting Phase of (TMTSF)2ClO4. Physical Review Letters 110(10): 107005.
• Lancaster, T., Blundell, S.J. & Pratt, F.L. (2013). Another Dimension: investigations of molecular magnetism using muon-spin relaxation. Physica Scripta 88(6): 068506.
• Möller, J.S., Bonfà, P., Ceresoli, D., Bernardini, F., Blundell, S.J., Lancaster, T., De Renzi, R., Marzari, N., Watanabe, I., Sulaiman, S. & Mohamed-Ibrahim, M.I. (2013). Playing quantum hide-and-seek with the muon: localizing muon stopping sites. Physica Scripta 88(6): 068510.
• Lapidus, S.H. Manson, J.L., Park, H., Clement, A.J., Ghannadzadeh, S., Goddard, P., Lancaster, T. Moller, J.S., Blundell, S.J., Telling, M.T.F., Kang, J., Whangbo, M.H. & Schlueter, J.A. (2013). Antiferromagnetic ordering through a hydrogen-bonded network in the molecular solid CuF2(H2O)(2)(3-chloropyridine). Chemical Communications 49(5): 499-501.
• Moeller, J.S., Ceresoli, D., Lancaster, T., Marzari, N. & Blundell, S.J. (2013). Quantum states of muons in fluorides. Physical Review B 87(12): 121108.
• Xiao, F., Lancaster, T., Baker, P.J., Pratt, F.L., Blundell, S.J. Möller, J.S. Ali, N.Z. & Jansen, M. (2013). Magnetic transition and spin dynamics in the triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet α-KCrO2. Physical Review B 88(18): 180401(R).
• Burrard-Lucas, Maththew, Free, David G., Sedlmaier, Stefan J. Wright, Jack D., Cassidy, Simon J., Hara, Yoshiaki Corkett, Alex J. Lancaster, Tom, Baker, Peter J. Blundell, Stephen J. & Clarke, Simon J. (2013). Enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature of FeSe by intercalation of a molecular spacer layer. Nature Materials 12(1): 15-19.
• Ghannadzadeh, S., Möller, J.S., Goddard, P.A., Lancaster, T., Xiao, F., Blundell, S.J., Maisuradze, A., Khasanov, R., Manson, J.L., Tozer, S.W., Graf, D. & Schlueter, J.A. (2013). Evolution of magnetic interactions in a pressure-induced Jahn-Teller driven magnetic dimensionality switch. Physical Review B 87(24): 241102.
• Wright, J.D., Pitcher, M.J. Trevelyan-Thomas, W., Lancaster, T., Baker, P.J. Pratt, F.L. Clarke, S.J. & Blundell, S.J. (2013). Magnetic fluctuations and spin freezing in nonsuperconducting LiFeAs derivatives. Physical Review B 88(6): 060401.
• Goddard, Paul A., Manson, Jamie L., Singleton, John, Franke, Isabel, Lancaster, Tom, Steele, Andrew J., Blundell, Stephen J., Baines, Christopher, Pratt, Francis L., McDonald, Ross D., Ayala-Valenzuela, Oscar E., Corbey, Jordan F., Southerland, Heather I., Sengupta, Pinaki & Schlueter, John A. (2012). Dimensionality Selection in a Molecule-Based Magnet. Physical Review Letters 108(7): 077208.
• Pratt, F.L., Baker, P.J., Blundell, S.J., Lancaster, T., Ohira-Kawamura, S., Baines, C., Shimizu, Y., Kanoda, K., Watanabe, I. & Saito, G. (2011). Magnetic and non-magnetic phases of a quantum spin liquid. Nature 471(7340): 612–616.