Nuclear resonance scattering of synchrotron radiation as a unique electronic, structural and thermodynamic probe

Book · Wed May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:1037884

Alp, E Ercan; Sturhahn, Wolfgang; Toellner, Thomas S; Zhao, Jiyong; Leu, Bogdan M

Discovery of Moessbauer effect in a nuclear transition was a remarkable development. It revealed how long-lived nuclear states with relatively low energies in the kiloelectron volt (keV) region can be excited without recoil. This new effect had a unique feature involving a coupling between nuclear physics and solid-state physics, both in terms of physics and sociology. Physics coupling originates from the fact that recoilless emission and absorption or resonance is only possible if the requirement that nuclei have to be bound in a lattice with quantized vibrational states is fulfilled, and that the finite electron density on the nucleus couples to nuclear degrees of freedom leading to hyperfine interactions. thus, Moessbauer spectroscopy allows peering into solid-state effects using unique nuclear transitions. Sociological aspects of this coupling had been equally startling and fruitful. The interaction between diverse scientific communities, who learned to use Moessbauer spectroscopy proved to be very valuable. For example, biologists, geologists, chemists, physics, materials scientists, and archeologists, all sharing a common spectroscopic technique, also learned to appreciate the beauty and intricacies of each other's fields. As a laboratory-based technique, Moessbauer spectroscopy matured by the end of the 1970s. Further exciting developments took place when accelerator-based techniques were employed, like synchrotron radiation or 'in-beam'Moessbauer experiments with implanted radioactive ions. More recently, two Moessbauer spectrometers on the surface of the Mars kept the technique vibrant and viable up until present time. In this chapter, the authors look into some of the unique aspects of nuclear resonance excited with synchrotron radiation as a probe of condensed matter, including magnetism, valence, vibrations, and lattice dynamics, and review the development of nuclear resonance inelastic x-ray scattering (NRIXS) and synchrotron Moessbauer spectroscopy (SMS). However, to place these two techniques into some perspective with respect to other methods that yield related information, they display their version of a frequently used map of momentum and energy transfer diagram in figure 17.1. Here, various probes like electrons, neutrons, or light, i.e., Brillouin or Raman, and relatively newer forms of X-ray scattering are placed according to their range of energy and momentum transfer taking place during the measurements. Accordingly, NRIXS is a method that needs to be considered as a complementary probe to inelastic neutron and X-ray scattering, while SMS occupies a unique space due to its sensitivity to magnetism, structural deformations, valence, and spin states.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• OSTI ID: 1037884
• Resource Relation: Related Information: The Rudolf Mössbauer Story
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRONS
ENERGY TRANSFER
MAGNETISM
MOESSBAUER EFFECT
MOESSBAUER SPECTROMETERS
MOMENTUM TRANSFER
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
NUCLEI
PHYSICS
PROBES
RESONANCE
RESONANCE SCATTERING
SCATTERING
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
SYNCHROTRONS
THERMODYNAMICS
VALENCE
VIBRATIONAL STATES