MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR-QUADRUPOLE INTERACTIONS USING MOSSBAUER-SPECTROSCOPY

Mossbauer spectroscopy is a useful probe for investigating nuclear qua drupole interactions. It enables the magnitude, sign and asymmetry of the electric quadrupole coupling constant to be determined. It is espe cially important for its ability to measure these parameters for excit ed nuclear states. The Mossbauer effect is used to measure excited sta te quadrupole moments in materials whose electric field gradient (EFG) is known. More commonly however, it is used to determine the EFG from which atomic bonding and electronic structure are determined. The tec hnique also allows temperature dependent orientation of sublattice mag netization to be measured using the direction of the electric quadrupo le coupling as a reference.