Cobalt-57: Mossbauer

 Mössbauer spectroscopy is used primarily to study the electron structure of materials. Resonant absorption is observed best in isotopes having long-lived, low-lying excited nuclear energy states.

To use a Mössbauer source as a spectroscopic tool we must be able to vary its energy over a significant range. This is accomplished by Doppler shifting the energy of the gamma beam. A Mössbauer spectrometer consists of a source which may be moved relative to the sample and a counter to monitor the intensity of the beam after it has passed through the sample. The Mössbauer spectrum is a plot of the counting rate against the source velocity, i.e., the beam energy.

Mössbauer spectroscopy is applied in solid-state physics, surface physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biochemistry, and geology.