Mössbauer spectroscopy

Mößbauer spectroscopy is a gamma radiation, and a detector measures the intensity of the beam that is transmitted through the sample, which will change depending on how many gamma rays are absorbed by the sample. The atoms in the source emitting the gamma rays are the same as the atoms in the sample absorbing them. It is thanks to the Mössbauer effect that a significant fraction of the gamma rays emitted by the atoms in the source do not lose any energy due to recoil and thus have almost the right energy to be absorbed by the target atoms. The gamma-ray energy is varied by accelerating the gamma-ray source through a range of velocities with a linear motor. The relative motion between the source and sample results in an energy shift due to the Doppler effect.