Mossbauer resonance absorption effect

The Mossbauer effect, discovered by Rudolf L. Mossbauer in 1957, can in short be described as the recoil-free emission and resonant absorption of gamma radiation by nuclei. In the case of iron, the source consists of Co, which decays with a half-life of 270 days to an excited state of Fe (natural abundance in iron 2%). The latter, in turn, decays rapidly to the first excited state of this isotope. The final decay generates a 14.4 keV photon and a very narrow natural linewidth of the order of nano eV. 

Fig. 2.1 Nuclear resonance absorption of y-rays (Mossbauer effect) for nuclei with Z protons and N neutrons. The top left part shows the population of the excited state of the emitter by the radioactive decay of a mother isotope (Z, N ) via a- or P-emission, or K-capture (depending on the isotope). The right part shows the de-excitation of the absorber by re-emission of a y-photon or by radiationless emission of a conversion electron (thin arrows labeled y and e , respectively)...

Nuclear resonance absorption for the 136 keV transition has been established by Steiner et al. [174]. The authors used a metal source and an absorber of metallic tantalum to determine the mean lifetime of the 136 keV level from the experimental line width ( 52.5 mm s for zero effective absorber thickness) and found a value of 55 ps. This has been the only report so far on the use of the 136 keV excited state of Ta for Mossbauer experiments. 

It is much more difficult to observe the Mossbauer effect with the 130 keV transition than with the 99 keV transition because of the relatively high transition energy and the low transition probability of 130 keV transition, and thus the small cross section for resonance absorption. Therefore, most of the Mossbauer work with Pt, published so far, has been performed using the 99 keV transition. Unfortunately, its line width is about five times larger than that of the 130 keV transition, and hyperfine interactions in most cases are poorly resolved. However, isomer shifts in the order of one-tenth of the line width and magnetic dipole interaction, which manifests itself only in line broadening, may be extracted reliably from Pt (99 keV) spectra. 

The recoilless nuclear resonance absorption of y-radiation (Mossbauer effect) has been verified for more than 40 elements, but only some 15 of them are suitable for practical applications [33, 34]. The limiting factors are the lifetime and the energy of the nuclear excited state involved in the Mossbauer transition. The lifetime determines the spectral line width, which should not exceed the hyperfine interaction energies to be observed. The transition energy of the y-quanta determines the recoil energy and thus the resonance effect [34]. 57Fe is by far the most suited and thus the most widely studied Mossbauer-active nuclide, and 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy has become a standard technique for the characterisation of SCO compounds of iron. 

Mossbauer spectroscopy The Mossbauer effect is resonance absorption of 7 radiation of a precisely defined energy, by specific nuclei. It is the basis of a form of spectroscopy used for studying coordinated metal ions. The principal application in bioinorganic chemistry is Fe. The source for the 7 rays is Co, and the frequency is shifted by the Doppler effect, moving it at defined velocities (in mm/s) relative to the sample. The parameters derived from the Mossbauer spectrum (isomer shift, quadrupole splitting, and the hyperfine coupling) provide information about the oxidation, spin and coordination state of the iron. 

Mossbauer spectroscopy, also called recoil-free nuclear resonance absorption, depends upon resonant absorption of y-rays emitted by a radioactive source by atomic nuclei.120 The phenomenon was initially difficult to observe, but the German physicist Mossbauer devised a way in which to record the absorption of a quantum of energy equal to the difference in two energy states of the atomic nucleus. The method depends upon a Doppler effect observed when the sample or source moves. Consequently, Mossbauer spectra, such as that in Fig. 16-18, are plots of absorp-... 

The term Mossbauer effect describes the recoil-free resonant absorption of y quanta by nuclei of the same kind as the emitters. If a free nucleus undergoes a transition from an excited state by emission of a y quantum, it suffers a recoil. The energy of this quantum in the laboratory frame is given as = E — E/j, where E is the nuclear transition energy and Er is the recoil energy of the nucleus after the emission of the y quantum. It can be expressed as... 

Fig. 2.44. Mossbauer spectroscopy (a) nuclear transitions giving rise to the Mossbauer effect in Fe (b) principles involved in the Mossbauer spectrometer (c) Mdssbauer resonant absorption of iron in different crystal environments and the resulting spectral types. (After Vaughan and Craig, 1978 reproduced with the publisher s permission).

The Mossbauer effect is the resonant absorption of low-energy y-rays by nuclei bound in solids in such a way that there is no energy loss due to nuclear recoil. It depends upon the monoenergetic nature of the y-ray emitted from an excited nucleus. When this ray falls on an unexcited nucleus of the same isotope, it will be absorbed if the nuclei are stationary relative to each other. However, if there is relative movement, there will be a Doppler shift in the frequency of the emitted y-ray so... 

The theoretical interpretation of the effect was done by R. L. Mossbauer himself, using the theory of W. E. Lamb, Jr. (8), for neutron capture by atoms in a crystal. According to this theory the resonance-absorption cross section is given by... 

Dynamic groperties of the lattice in which the resonant atom is bound. The area of the absorption spectrum is governed by the probability of a nucleus absorbing a y-photon emitted by the source without recoil. The Mossbauer effect is actually the quantum-mechanical result that such a resonant absorption process should have a non-vanishing probability of taking place, given... 

R. L. Mossbauer (Munich) resonance absorption of gamma radiation and discovery of the effect which bears his name. 

The Mossbauer effect is the emission and resonant absorption of nuclear y-rays studied under conditions such that the nuclei have negligible recoil velocities when y-rays are emitted or absorbed. This is only achieved by working with solid samples in which the nuclei are held rigidly in a crystal lattice. The energy, and thus the frequency of the y-radiation involved, corresponds to the transition between the ground state and the short-lived excited state of the nuclide concerned. Table 2.4 lists properties of several nuclei which can be observed using Mdssbauer spectroscopy. 

Although a number of possible applications of the Mossbauer effect have been suggested in the previous chapters, it is worthwhile to consider its use in general terms before developing the theme of more specific chemical application. Generally speaking, three broad areas can be defined in addition to that of the basic phenomenon of resonant absorption itself namely relativity and general physics, nuclear physics, and solid-state physics and chemistry. 

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