title: Mössbauer spectroscopy.
abstract: Mössbauer spectroscopy involves the emission and absorption of γ-rays by nuclei in solids. This technique is based on the Mössbauer effect, whereby certain nuclei, when in a solid, can emit and absorb γ-rays without energy loss because of recoil. This leads to resonant absorption with an extremely high precision, which can be used to investigate the very small changes in the nuclear energy levels that result from the hyperfine interactions between the nucleus and its electronic environment. Thus, the Mössbauer nucleus in a solid acts as a probe of the chemical and physical state of the atom, molecule, and solid in which the nucleus is situated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Dickson