Rudolph Mossbauer discovered the phenomenon of recoil-free nuclear
resonance fluorescence in 1957-58 and the first indications of hyperfine
interactions in a chemical compound were obtained by Kistner and Sunyar
in 1960. From these beginnings the technique of Mossbauer spectroscopy
rapidly emerged and the astonishing versatility of this new technique
soon led to its extensive application to a wide variety of chemical and
solid-state problems. This book reviews the results obtained by
Mossbauer spectroscopy during the past ten years in the belief that this
will provide a firm basis for the continued development and application
of the technique to new problems in the future. It has been our aim to
write a unified and consistent treatment which firstly presents the
basic principles underlying the phenomena involved, then outlines the
experimental techniques used, and finally summarises the wealth of
experimental and theoretical results which have been obtained. We have
tried to give some feeling for the physical basis of the Mossbauer
effect with- out extensive use of mathematical formalism, and some
appreciation of the experimental methods employed without embarking on a
detailed discussion of electronics and instrumentation. However, full
references to the original literature are provided and particular points
can readily be pursued in more detail if required.