Donald G. Fleming

Professor Emeritus

Office: Wesbrook W229
Office Phone: (604) 822-5577
Lab(s): Chemistry D430, TRIUMF uSR
Lab Phone(s): (TRIUMF) (604) 222-1047, Ext. 6295

FAX: (604) 822-2847
Email: flem@triumf.ca

Curriculum Vitae: B.Sc., British Columbia (1961); M.Sc., British Columbia (1963); Ph.D., Univ. of Cal., Berkeley (1967); Postdoctoral, Nuclear Structure Lab, Rochester, NY (1967-69) and Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen (1969-71); UBC Killam Senior Fellowship 1977; Visiting Scientist, Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research, 1983-84, and Institute de Physique Nucleaire, Orsay, France, 1984; John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, USA, 1983-84; Visiting Scientist, Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Cambridge University, UK, 1984; Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship, 1987-89; Visiting Professor, Dept. of Physics and Meson Science Institute, Univ. of Tokyo, 1988; STA Fellowship, Inst. of Physical Sciences, RIKEN, Japan, 1990; UBC Senior Killam Research Awards, 1990, 1992; Fellow, Chemical Institute of Canada, 1991; Visiting Scientist, RIKEN, Japan, 1992; NSERC National Centres of Excellence Participant, "CEMAID", 1990-94; UBC Killam Research Prize (1994); Visiting Scientist, RIKEN, Japan, 1998; Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize, Germany, 1999,2001; Visiting Scientist, Physikalische Chemie, University of Stuttgart, Germany, 1999-2001; John Polanyi Award in Physical Chemistry/Chemical Physics, Chemical Institute of Canada, 2002; Visiting Scientist, "ISIS" Pulsed Muon Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, 2002, 2003, 2004; Glen T Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry, American Chemical Society, Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, American Chemical Society, 2004.

Nuclear/Physical/Muonium Chemistry at TRIUMF: Muonium chemistry at TRIUMF; positive muons as probes of matter; u+ and muonium (Mu=u+e-) spin and charge-exchange, and muonium (H atom) formation; chemical reaction dynamics and sensitive tests of quantum mass effects and kinetic isotope effects in gases, probed by muonium reactivity; measurements of hyperfine coupling constants and level-crossing resonance and spin relaxation phenomena of Mu-radicals in gases; probing guest-host and catalytic interactions in zeolites by muon spin probes; muonium and uSR interactions in supercritical CO2; RF resonance studies of muon interactions at "ISIS"; muonium molecule emission spectroscopy and planned studies of laser-enhanced muonium reactivity.

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Research/Teaching Interests

The muon (µ), a `lepton', is one of nature's `elementary particles', and like the electron (positron) comes in two charge states, µ- and µ+. It is produced 100% spin polarized from `pion' decay and this spin polarization can be sensitively monitored as a function of time. Positive muons in particular can be transported in a beam line at the TRIUMF accelerator and stopped in a target of interest, producing an easily recognizable signature on a microsecond time scale. This "µSR" (Muon Spin Rotation or Relaxation or Resonance) signal is analyzed to yield amplitudes, frequencies and relaxations characteristic of the interactions of the muon spin with its environment, as indicated in the diagram below, and similar in scope to related studies in magnetic resonance. Positive muons form the muonium atom (Mu=µ+e-), which is an extraordinary ultralight isotope of hydrogen: m_Mu = 1/9 m_H. As such, its study provides an exceptionally sensitive probe of quantum mass effects in chemical reaction dynamics. Current areas of research interest are: µ+ charge exchange and Mu formation, chemical reaction (e.g., Mu+CO) and spin exchange (e.g., Mu+NO) studies of the Mu atom, the formation of Mu-radicals (eg., MuC₆H₆) and their subsequent interactions in both the gas phase and on zeolite surfaces, muon and Mu interactions by RF resonance at the "ISIS" facility in the UK (near Oxford) and in laser-enhanced Mu reactivity studies to compliment earlier studies of chemiluminescence (of the Rydberg states of NeMu*).