Nuclear transitions

Nuclei in atoms undergo a variety of energy level transitions, often associated with the emission or absorption of a gamma ray.

These energy levels are influenced by their surrounding environment, both electronic and magnetic, which can change or split these energy levels.

These changes in the energy levels can provide information about the atom's local environment within a system and ought to be observed using resonance-fluorescence

In a free nucleus during emission or absorption of a gamma ray it recoils due to conservation of momentum, just like a gun recoils when firing a bullet, with a recoil energy ER

Fig1: Recoil of free nuclei in emission or absorption of a gamma-ray

Just as a gun recoils when a bullet is fired, conservation of momentum requires a free nucleus (such as in a gas) to recoil during emission or absorption of a gamma ray. If a nucleus at rest emits a gamma ray, the energy of the gamma ray is slightly less than the natural energy of the transition, but in order for a nucleus at rest to absorb a gamma ray, the gamma ray's energy must be slightly greater than the natural energy, because in both cases energy is lost to recoil.

The Mssbauer effect is a physical phenomenon discovered by Rudolf Mssbauer in 1958. It involves the resonant and recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation by atomic nucleibound in a solid. Its main application iin Mssbauer spectroscopy

The Mossbauer Effect, a process in which a nucleus emits or absorbs gamma rays without loss of energy to a nuclear recoil. It is possible in solids but not in free nucleus and gasses.

Mssbauer spectroscopy is a versatile technique used to study nuclear structure with the absorption and re-emission of gamma rays, part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The technique uses a combinati on of the Mssbauer effect and Doppler shifts to probe the hyperfine transitions between the excited and ground states of the nucleus

For example, the source for57Fe consists of 57Co, which decays by electron capture to an excited state of 57Fe, then subsequently decays to a ground state emitting the desired gamma-ray

The Doppler shift describes the change in frequency due to a moving source and a moving observer. In the case where the source is moving toward a stationary observer the perceived frequency is higher. For the opposite situation where the source travels away from the observer frequencies recorded at the observer will be of lower compared to the initial wave. The energy of a photon is related to the product of Planck's constant and the frequency of the electromagnetic radiation. Thus for increasing frequecies the corresponding energy also increase, and the same is true in the reverse case where frequencies decrease and therefore energy decreases.

Isomer Shift The isomer shift arises due to the non-zero volume of the nucleus and the electron charge density due to s-electrons within it. This leads to a monopole (Coulomb) interaction, altering the nuclear energy levels. Any difference in the s-electron environment between the source and absorber thus produces a shift in the resonance energy of the transition

Magnetic Splitting
In the presence of a magnetic field the nuclear spin moment experiences a dipolar interaction with the magnetic field ie Zeeman splitting. There are many sources of magnetic fields that can be experienced by the nucleus

Quadrupole Splitting
Nuclei in states with an angular momentum quantum number I>1/2 have a non-spherical charge distribution. This produces a nuclear quadrupole moment. In the presence of an asymmetrical electric field (produced by an asymmetric electronic charge distribution or ligand arrangement) this splits the nuclear energy levels