A single line linearly polarized source for Mossbauer spectroscopy

A single line source of linearly polarized radiation in a conventional Mossbauer setup working at room temperature with (57)Co in Cr matrix was constructed. The ordered Fe(3)Si was used as a filter. The estimated degree of polarization of the source depends on the preparation and thickness of the polarizer. The best polarization degree (92 +/- 8)% was achieved. The measurements with polarized radiation lead to significant simplification of the complex spectra and allow to study components arising from various polarizations separately. In particular, it is possible to extract Delta m = (1, 1) and Delta m = 0 transitions by use of a linearly polarized beam. Moreover polarized beam can be used for determination of texture parameters related to spatial arrangements of spins in the plane perpendicular to the radiation beam. Such parameters are not easily measurable by other methods. The Mossbauer spectra of invar Fe(65)Ni(35) measured by monochromatic linearly polarized radiation are shown as an example. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.