Calibration of ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer Spectrometer Parameters for Hyper-fine Interaction Analysis

Mössbauer spectroscopy is used to probe the fine nuclear structures of isotopes of Mössbauer nuclei. A common isotope used in Mössbauer spectroscopy is ⁵⁷Fe due to its low energy γ-rays, abundance, and long nuclear lifetime. We setup, calibrated and acquired data using a Mössbauer setup equipped with a 25 mCi ⁵⁷Co source by optimizing the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and resolution using a krypton gas proportional counter detector. We cross-checked the relationship between channels and velocity of the Mössbauer drive unit using various absorbers: α-Fe, Fe₂O₃, ⁵⁷FeC₂O₄·2H₂O, and K₂Mg⁵⁷Fe(CN)₆. From the spectroscopy of each absorber we measured the absorption energies of the peaks and derived the isomer shift, quadrupole splitting, and magnetic dipole interactions for all of the absorbers.