Gamma-Ray Anisotropy Thermometers

Gamma-ray Anisotropy
Thermometers
It's one of the nuclear oriented thermometers that depends on the
property of the anisotropic emission of γ-quanta in the decay of
radioactive nucleiis which depends on the orientation of the nuclear
spins. It also considered a Primary Thermometer. The radiation
emitted by an ensemble of nuclei shows this anisotropy only if the
nuclei exhibit a preferential orientation. Such an orientation can be
achieved by strong magnetic fields. In order to produce the required
high magnetic field for the polarization of nuclear spins, the
radioactive isotopes are often imbedded in a ferromagnetic host
material. The magnetic field splits the degenerate levels of nuclei
with spin I into (2I + 1) sublevels. Since the direction of an emitted
γ-quantum depends on the particular sublevel occupied by the spin,
it is possible to determine the thermal occupation of the sublevels,
and thus the temperature via a measurement of the anisotropy of
[
the γ-emission.[2],[3
The temperature and angular dependence of the total emission

:intensity is described by the function
(WT,θ= 1+ k=2,4, …K maxGk Uk Fk Bk(T) Pk(cosΘ
where Θ denotes the angle between the preferred nuclear

orientation and the direction of observation. The sum only runs over
even values of k, since γ-quanta carry an angular momentum ħ and
the transition conserves parity. The upper limit kmax is given by 2I
or 2L, whichever is smaller, where L represents the multipole order
of the emitted radiation. The factors Gk reflect the geometry of the
experiment and can be close to unity. They are determined by the
properties of the detector, the size of the radioactive source and the
finite angle of the measurement. The coefficients Uk depend on the
characteristics of the decay chain prior to the transition of interest.
For all systems that are considered for thermometry, these
coefficients are known and can be looked up in published tables.
The quantities Fk denote the angular momentum coupling
coefficients for the actual nuclear transition. These coefficients are
known and can be obtained from the literature. The functions
Pk(cosΘ) represent the Legendre polynomial expansion. The
temperature dependence of W is reflected by factors Bk, given by
, (Bk = (2k)!(k!)2Ik (2I + 1)(2k + 1)(2I - k)!(2I + k + 1)! fk(I
which describe the thermal occupation of the levels. The first two
:terms of the coefficients fk are given by
(f2 = - I + 13I + 1I2 m=-IIm2P(m
where P(m) = Z−1 exp(−Em/kBT) represents the occupation of the m-

th level, with Z being the partition function. The temperature
dependence of P(m) is the basis for the determination of the
.absolute temperature
Of course, not all radioactive nuclei are equally suitable for nuclear
orientation thermometry. In most cases, the radioactive nuclei 60Co
or 54Mn are used. These two isotopes are particularly attractive since
all relevant parameters are well known and the lifetimes of the
intermediate states are short enough not to be influenced by spin-
flip processes. In both cases, the γ-quanta originate from a pure
electric quadropole transition (E2) of the nuclei. This means that the
multipole order is L = 2, and kmax is 4 for both isotopes, although the
spins of 54Mn and 60Co nuclei have the values I = 3 and I = 5,
.respectively
In the following, we consider 60Co in a single crystal of 59Co as an

example of nuclear orientation thermometry. Figure 12.9 shows the
slightly simplified decay scheme of 60Co. The cobalt isotope 60Co has
a half-life of 5.26 years and decays via a β− process to 60Ni. The
initially excited Ni nucleus goes into the ground state by emitting
two γ-quanta of energies 1.17MeV and 1.33 MeV. The magnetic
hyperfine interaction in the cobalt crystal results in eleven
.equidistant sublevels with an energy splitting of ΔE/kB ≈ 6mK
As already mentioned, all parameters for the determination of the

temperature and angular dependence of the γ-emission of 60Co are
known, so that one can calculate the theoretical curves
quantitatively. Figure 12.10a shows the expected angular
distribution of the γ-emission for different values
of kBT/ΔE, where ΔE represents the splitting of the magnetic

sublevels. At high temperatures (kBT >> ΔE) the radiation is
isotropic. With decreasing temperature it becomes more anisotropic.
As T → 0, one finds the ideal angular dependence of a pure electric
.quadropole transition
Figure 12.10b shows the temperature dependence of W(T,Θ) for

Co in a cobalt single crystal. The largest total change is observed
60
for the γ-emission in the direction of the nuclear spin orientation.

Whereas for this direction the signal decreases with decreasing
temperature, it increases for Θ = 90o. The maximum variation with
.temperature for Θ = 90o is at roughly 6 mK
In practice, one often uses cobalt single crystals that are doped with
small amounts of 60Co. Using a suitable shape, for example a
needle-like shape, oriented parallel to the c-axis of the crystal, one
can omit the use of an external magnetic field to orient the
ferromagnetic domains. Figure 12.11 shows two 60Co spectra
obtained with a NaI scintillation counter at two different
temperatures. The recording time was ten minutes for each
spectrum. The reduction in intensity of the two 60Co lines at low
temperatures is clearly visible. For comparison, a long-time
background counting rate (16 h) without the cobalt source was
taken in the same geometry. The result is also plotted in Fig. 12.11.
The 40K line appears in this spectrum at 1.45MeV, originating from
the natural radioactivity of the surroundings. The intensities of all
.the spectra have been normalized with respect to the counting time
A 60Co nuclear orientation thermometer can be used for

temperatures between 2mK and 50 mK, since in this range the
temperature dependence is sufficiently large. These thermometers
are not suitable for use in strong magnetic fields. To obtain spectra
with good statistics one needs sources with high activity. However,
the amount of 60Co in the cobalt host crystal cannot be increased
beyond a certain limit, since the source represents a heat leak for
the cryostat that is proportional to the activity. In practice, activities
between 1 μCi and 10 μCi have been considered as a suitable
compromise. NaI scintillation counters are often used as the
detector because they are relatively inexpensive and easy to
handle. For more precise measurements Ge ionization detectors are
more suitable, since they provide a much better energy resolution
compared to NaI counters. A particular advantage of nuclear
orientation thermometers is the fact that no leads into the cryostat
are needed. The disadvantages are the limited temperature range
.and the radioactivity
: References
Low-Temperature Physics, C.Enns, S.Hunklinger, 2005, ISBN-10 3-540-23164- [1]

1, Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
(H. Marshak, J. Res. NBS 88, 175 (1983 [2]
H. Marshak, Low-Temperature Nuclear Orientation, (N.J. Stone, H. Postma, eds.), (North- [3]
Holland, Amsterdam 1986), p. 769
(G. Schuster, D. Hechtfischer, B. Fellmuth, Rep. Prog. Phys. 57, 187 (1994 [622]

Gamma-Ray Anisotropy Thermometers

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Gamma-ray Anisotropy

The temperature and angular dependence of the total emission

where Θ denotes the angle between the preferred nuclear

, (Bk = (2k)!(k!)2Ik (2I + 1)(2k + 1)(2I - k)!(2I + k + 1)! fk(I

where P(m) = Z−1 exp(−Em/kBT) represents the occupation of the m-

In the following, we consider 60Co in a single crystal of 59Co as an

As already mentioned, all parameters for the determination of the

of kBT/ΔE, where ΔE represents the splitting of the magnetic

Figure 12.10b shows the temperature dependence of W(T,Θ) for

for the γ-emission in the direction of the nuclear spin orientation.

A 60Co nuclear orientation thermometer can be used for

Low-Temperature Physics, C.Enns, S.Hunklinger, 2005, ISBN-10 3-540-23164- [1]

(H. Marshak, J. Res. NBS 88, 175 (1983 [2]

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