Time-domain, nuclear-resonant, forward scattering: theclassical approach

This paper deals with the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter assuming the matter to have nuclear transitions in resonance with incident electromagnetic radiation. The source of the radiation is taken to be of two types; natural radioactive gamma decay and synchrotron radiation. Numerical examples using ⁵⁷Fe are given for the two types of source radiation. Calculated results are contrasted for the two cases. Electromagnetic radiation produced by recoil-free gamma-ray emission has essentially the natural linewidth. Electromagnetic radiation from a synchrotron, even with the best monochromators available, has a relatively broad-band spectrum, essentially constant for these considerations. Polarization effects are considered. In general, the nuclear-resonant medium changes the polarization of the input radiation on traversing the medium. Calculations are presented to illustrate that synchrotron radiation studies using nuclear-resonant forward scattering have the potential for making high-precision measurements of hyperfine fields and recoilless fractions. An interesting aspect of nuclear-resonant forward scattering, relative to possible gamma-ray laser development, is the so-called “speed-up” effect. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.