Nucleogenic iron studied by emission Mössbauer spectroscopy in Co-metal Original Research Article

Results obtained by means of the emission Mössbauer spectroscopy in metallic cobalt are reported. The Mössbauer line of the 14.4-keV energy connecting the first excited state of the stable 57Fe nucleus with its ground state was used. Radioactive 57Co was used as the precursor of the above nuclear state. It was dissolved in the natural metallic cobalt with the concentration of about 40 at. ppm including nucleogenic iron generated during decay of the cobalt precursor. Mössbauer spectra were collected in the temperature range between room temperature (RT) and 1075 K with the sample kept under vacuum. A transition from the low temperature hexagonal phase to the face centered cubic high temperature phase at about 690 K has no influence on the iron magnetic hyperfine field arising due to the ferromagnetic ordering of the host. On the other hand, the electron charge density on the iron nucleus has some relatively narrow maximum in the vicinity of the transition temperature. There is some discontinuity in the recoilless fraction as well indicating that the high temperature cubic phase provides somewhat stronger bonds for the isolated iron impurity. The anharmonic behavior of the lattice vibrations could be seen in the cubic phase well above the transition point. No measurable electric quadrupole interaction was found in the hexagonal phase. The evolution of the magnetic hyperfine field with the temperature is reasonably described by the spin wave formalism provided strong magnon–magnon scattering is allowed for. On the other hand, charge density on the iron nucleus follows thermal expansion except some singularity in the vicinity of the transition point.