Mössbauer spectroscopy

<p>Mössbauer spectroscopy is a <a href="/facts/Spectroscopy/mj71FuNK">spectroscopic</a> technique based on the <a href="/facts/M%C3%B6ssbauer_effect/Q3PU4Kaq">Mössbauer effect</a>. This effect, discovered by <a href="/facts/Rudolf_M%C3%B6ssbauer/HScNwKWb">Rudolf Mössbauer</a> (sometimes written "Moessbauer", German: "Mößbauer") in 1958, consists of the nearly <a href="/facts/Atomic_recoil/9DoQJ7At">recoil</a>-free emission and absorption of nuclear <a href="/facts/Gamma_ray/5Drf913J">gamma rays</a> in <a href="/facts/Solid/hj5UsXno">solids</a>. The consequent <a href="/facts/Nuclear_spectroscopy/wGIS5IGq">nuclear spectroscopy</a> method is exquisitely sensitive to small changes in the chemical environment of certain nuclei.
</p><p>Typically, three types of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_interaction/A2MyJoWE">nuclear interactions</a> may be observed: the <a href="/facts/Isomeric_shift/pQs32Cjl">isomer shift</a> due to differences in nearby electron densities (also called the <a href="/facts/Chemical_shift/VoCY7s7R">chemical shift</a> in older literature), <a href="/facts/Quadrupole_splitting/CjFX1zg9">quadrupole splitting</a> due to atomic-scale electric field gradients; and magnetic splitting due to non-nuclear magnetic fields. Due to the high energy and extremely <a href="/facts/Spectral_line/HuI4Bj5f">narrow line</a> widths of nuclear gamma rays, Mössbauer spectroscopy is a highly sensitive technique in terms of energy (and hence frequency) resolution, capable of detecting changes of just a few parts in 1011.  It is a method completely unrelated to  <a href="/facts/Nuclear_magnetic_resonance_spectroscopy/SFKgdthI">nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy</a>.
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Mössbauer spectroscopy open-in-new

Mössbauer spectroscopy