π phase-shift induced transparency of resonant gamma radiation

Abstract

The so-called gamma-echo effect has been observed experimentally and analyzed using the semiclassical optical theory. Here the effect is reinterpreted using a new 1D quantum mechanical model. This leads to a different interpretation of the effect as a π phase-shift induced transparency. In the basic time-differential Mössbauer spectroscopic technique the forward-scattered recoil-free radiation is observed, in delayed coincidence, after passing through a nuclear-resonant absorber. The effect in question is produced most efficiently when the source of recoil-free radiation is moved abruptly causing a π phase shift of the source radiation during its radiative lifetime. Using the 1D model the effect is seen to arise from the constructive interference between the source radiation at a later time, and the radiation coming from the absorber excited at an earlier time. The exact form of the source modulation and the nuclear-resonant thickness of the resonant absorber determines the shape of the time-differential resonant gamma ray transmission spectrum. Numerical results are given using the familiar 57Fe recoil-free resonant transition. The π phase-shift-induced transparency allows the resonant gamma radiation, incident on the resonant absorber, to be transmitted through the absorber without appreciable attenuation.