Beta Detected NMR a New Probe for Nanoscience

TRIUMF's ISAC facility in Vancouver, Canada produces intense beams of shortlived radioactive ions for research in nuclear and materials science. The latter uses $^8$Li$^+$ as an implanted spin-polarized radioactive probe. Using the technique of beta-detected Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, local magnetic information is extracted via detection based on the asymmetric property of nuclear beta-decay. The probe ion implantation energy can be varied from $\sim 30$ keV down to $\sim 100$ eV, allowing the implantation depth to be varied from a few hundred nanometers down to a few nanometers. Thus depth-resolved measurements of thin films, heterostructures and near-surface and buried-interface effects can be performed on a wide range of condensed matter systems. The facility and some examples (in superconductors and magnetic materials) will be reviewed, and prospects for the growth of this user-facility within the larger TRIUMF Centre for Molecular and Materials Science will be presented.