Introduction to nuclear resonant scattering with synchrotron radiation

In recent years, the use of synchrotron radiation has enjoyed increasing interest in applications to topics of Moessbauer spectroscopy. The development was initiated by the pioneering experimental work of Gerdau et al. following the original proposal of Ruby to use synchrotron radiation for the excitation of low energy nuclear resonances. From the early experiments it was clear that synchrotron radiation experiments with nuclear resonances would only succeed if familiar energy resolved measurements were replaced with a new time resolved technique. During the last decade, the authors experienced the refinement of this novel method for obtaining hyperfine parameters. This exciting development-materialized because of more intense synchrotron radiation sources at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), powerful new avalanche photo diode detectors, and improved high energy resolution monochromators. Simultaneously the tools for evaluation of the novel time spectra were created, e.g., Sturhahn and Gerdau developed extensive computer codes based on the theoretical descriptions of Hannon and Trammel. Many beautiful demonstrations of the basic features of the coherent elastic scattering channel using Bragg- and Laue-reflections from single crystals deepened the understanding of nuclear resonant scattering. The concepts leading to the application of synchrotron radiation to elastic and inelastic nuclear resonant scattering are discussed. The resulting new experimental techniques are compared to conventional Moessbauer spectroscopy. A survey of situations that favor experiments with synchrotron radiation is offered