Mِssbauer spectroscopy investigations and behaviour of impurity atoms in irradiated metallic targets

The properties of hot atomic microimpurities (57.58Co, 54Mn) in cyclotron metallic targets were investigated using the reaction 55Mn + α with emission Mossbauer spectroscopy employed to estimate the electronic state of the hot atoms. γ-Radiation self-absorption and sectioning methods were used to define the diffusion coefficients at 670–1200 K. The position of the 57Co atoms in the manganese lattice after irradiation and subsequent heating at the temperature of polymorphic α → β manganese (1000 K) transformations was established. Rapid diffusion of cobalt atoms at the polymorphic α → β manganese transformation was revealed. The radiochemical behaviour of 57,58Co, 54Mn after target dissolution was studied. The conclusion arrived at is that hot impurity atoms are a very effective tool in investigations of metallic cyclotron targets.