A technique was proposed for measuring self-diffusion in solids by exploiting the nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation. By monitoring the scattering in Bragg directions, it became possible to handle brittle samples which could not be prepared in the thin foils required for transmission methods. The intermetallic, Fe3Si, was used to demonstrate the feasibility of non-transmission nuclear resonant scattering experiments for measuring diffusion in non-perfect single crystals. Although modelling of the scattering from non-perfect crystals was difficult, the shapes of the time spectra of nuclear-scattered quanta from the present samples could be successfully approximated by using a simple model. Diffusion manifested itself as an accelerated decay of the intensity of the time spectra, and the diffusion parameters were thereby obtained.

Nuclear Resonant Bragg Scattering - Measurement of Self-Diffusion in Intermetallics. H.Thiess, M.Kaisermayr, B.Sepiol, M.Sladecek, R.Rüffer, G.Vogl: Physical Review B, 2001, 64[10], 104305 (10pp)