Nuclear-resonance beamline at ESRF

Summary The Nuclear-Resonance Beamline at ESRF is dedicated to the excitation of nuclear levels by synchrotron radiation. The source of radiation and optical elements are optimized to provide an intense, highly monochromatic, collimated and stable X-ray beam of small cross-section at the M?ssbauer transition energies between 6 keV and 30 keV. The set-up of the beamline allows to perform studies in diffraction, small-angle scattering, forward scattering and incoherent scattering. Equipment is available to maintain the sample at variable temperature and magnetic field. Fast detectors and timing electronics serve to separate the delayed nuclear scattering from the ?prompt? electronic scattering and to measure the time spectra of nuclear radiation with sub-nanosecond resolution. The general layout and the parameters of the beamline are reported. Typical domains of applications are discussed and illustrated by first experimental results. Paper presented at ICAME-95, Rimini, 10–16 September 1995.