Resonant nuclear scattering with synchrotron radiation

Nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) using synchrotron radiation combines the exceptional properties of Mössbauer spectrometry (MS) with those of synchrotron radiation. Since its first observation in 1984, this technique and its applications have enjoyed rapid development. Nuclear resonant scattering is now a standard technique for all third-generation synchrotron radiation sources. Like Mössbauer spectrometry, it is a non-destructive, atomic-scale analysis method. It has the advantage of not requiring the use of radioactive sources of incident γ photons, which can be difficult to manufacture, of lifetimes that can be short and of obviously limited intensity.

Current applications mainly concern two fields: hyperfine spectroscopy and structural dynamics. In hyperfine spectroscopy, resonant nuclear scattering can measure the same quantities as Mössbauer spectrometry. However, it is superior in areas that exploit the specific properties of synchrotron radiation, such as very small samples, single crystals, high-pressure measurements, grazing incidence geometry for surfaces and multilayers. Structural dynamics on time scales ranging from nanoseconds to microseconds, such as free or jump scattering, can be measured in the time domain. In addition, the inelastic nuclear scattering technique provides, for the first time, a tool for directly accessing the density of phonon states, and thus for deducing the dynamic and thermodynamic properties of the lattice.

The nuclear resonant scattering technique presented here, which corresponds to the SM technique, is known as nuclear forward scattering (NFS). Current applications in physics and chemistry are described. NFS is compared with the usual SM technique, to highlight its advantages and disadvantages.

Readers are invited to consult the articles Spectrométrie Mössbauer and Synchrotron Radiation and Applications .