High-temperature Mössbauer-effect measurements with a precision furnace

Abstract
A furnace system is presented for Mössbauer-effect spectroscopy at temperatures up to 1200 K with a temperature stability better than 0.03 K. This system allows the study of samples at high temperatures in an external magnetic field of a few kG with a homogeneity of better than 1%. Our measurements show that a few degrees above the Curie temperature TC, such an external field induces a considerable hyperfine field at 57Fe nuclei in iron. In addition, the magnetic hyperfine field and the isomer shift of 57Fe in metallic iron are measured over a temperature range of 300 to 1100 K. It is shown that a relatively small nonlinear behavior of the Mössbauer velocity drive system may result in a pseudodiscontinuity in the isomer shift δ near the Curie temperature, explaining the anomalous behavior observed for δ of iron and of some iron alloys in this region.