57Fe Mössbauer studies at high pressures and low temperatures

Abstract

A brief description is given of a new facility that permits57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy (MS) studies in transmission geometry to be made in the range 10–300 K on absorbers pressurized in a diamond-anvil cell. Examples are given of good quality spectra which have each been obtained in 20–30 hours by using a “point” source of ∼5mCi in conjunction with absorbers that have a comparatively low-enrichment (10–20%) of57Fe. The successful execution of57Fe MS at high pressures and variable cryogenic temperatures has been achieved by making simple refinements to existing elements of high-pressure MS methodology. The facility described herein finds important application in fields of geophysics and condensed matter physics.