Muons,radioactiveparticlesproducedinaccelerators,haveemergedasanimportanttooltostudyproblemsincondensedmatterphysicsandchemistry.Beamsofmuonswithalltheirspinspolarizedcanbeusedtoinvestigateavarietyofstaticanddynamiceffectsandhencetodeducepropertiesconcerningmagnetism,superconductivity,molecularorchemicaldynamicsandalargenumberofotherphenomena.Thetechniquewasoriginallythepreserveofafewspecialistslocatedinparticlephysicslaboratories.Todayitisusedbyscientistsfromaverywiderangeofscientificbackgroundsandinterests.Thismodern,pedagogicintroductiontomuonspectroscopyiswrittenwiththebeginnerinthefieldinmind,butalsoaimstoserveasareferenceformoreexperiencedresearchers.Thekeyprinciplesareillustratedbynumerouspracticalexamplesoftheapplicationofthetechniquetodifferentareasofscienceandtherearemanyworkedexamplesandproblemsprovidedtotestunderstanding.Thebookvividlydemonstratesthepowerofthetechniquetoextractimportantinformationinmanydifferentscientificcontexts,allstemming,ultimately,fromtheexquisitemagneticsensitivityoftheimplantedmuonspin.
