Energy-domain synchrotron radiation Mössbauer source for physics under extreme conditions

Iron is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and it is an important component in minerals. Electronic and magnetic properties of iron-bearing materials significantly affect processes occurring in the deep interior of the Earth. In the materials that make up the Earth’s lower mantle iron may exist in different valence, spin states and crystallographic environments. Most of the existing experimental techniques either do not allow to separately follow evolution of different iron sites or are not suitable for measurements under high-pressure/high-temperature conditions. This makes studies of iron electronic structure under such conditions extremely challenging. The current Ph.D. thesis is divided into two major parts. The first part is dedicated to the development of a Synchrotron Mössbauer Source (SMS). This device allows energy domain Mossbauer spectroscopy to be performed on a sample under pressures above 100 GPa in laser heated diamond anvil cells. The second part is dedicated to studying the behavior of iron in iron/alumina-bearing silicate perovskite under conditions of the Earth’s lower mantle. 1. Synchrotron Mössbauer Source There are several techniques that allow magnetic and electronic properties of materials under extreme conditions to be probed: X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), Nuclear Resonance Spectroscopes, etc. For elements in which observation of Mössbauer effect is possible the most mature, sensitive, and suitable technique for studies of magnetic and electronic properties is energy-domain Mössbauer spectroscopy. However, due to low brilliance of utilized radioactive sources and low natural abundance of iron in lower mantle minerals measurements using conventional energy- resolved Mössbauer spectroscopy require very long time and usually are limited to moderate pressures. The problem can be solved by combining the outstanding properties of synchrotron radiation (high brilliance, possibility for extreme focusing) with the energy-resolved approach. In brief, what is needed is a synchrotron source of Mössbauer radiation. Construction of such source was the primary task of my PhD work. The possibility to develop such a source was demonstrated at the Nuclear Resonance beamline ID18 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) by Smirnov et al. (1997). The source is based on pure nuclear reflections existing in antiferromagnetic 57FeBO3 crystals. The major technical goals of my PhD work were to (a) construct a device that would be permanently ready for operation, and (b) optimize it to have the best possible resolution and highest possible intensity. In order to achieve these goals theoretical calculations were first conducted to understand how to best improve the performance. Second, several experiments were performed to confirm the theoretically predicted results. Third, several optical schemes of the SMS were tested in order to determine the optimal setup. As a result of the research and development program a powerful Synchrotron Mössbauer Source (SMS) for high-pressure applications was constructed at the Nuclear Resonance beamline (ID18) of the ESRF. Using results obtained in the combined theoretical/experimental study of angular dependence of energy and temporal distributions of the pure nuclear reflections of iron borate crystal, the SMS was optimized for the highest possible intensity and best possible resolution. The bandwidth of radiation provided by the SMS is between 10-15 neV (2-3 Γ0, where Γ0 is a natural linewidth of Mössbauer resonance for Iron), the intensity is ~2.5×104 photons/s and the typical scanning velocity range is about ±12 mm/s (±0.6 μeV). In contrast to conventional radioactive sources, the SMS gives the possibility to focus the beam to tens of microns. SMS is the in-line monochromator, permanently located in the optics hutch and operational immediately after moving it into the incident beam position. The source can be used with all existing sample environments in the experimental hutches downstream of the beamline. The implementation of this device opens the possibility for studying systems with complex hyperfine structure utilizing energy-resolved approach under various extreme conditions, for example at high-pressure. Furthermore, the SMS allows for very short collection times of only a few minutes, which enables data to be collected during laser heating. Several high-pressure and high-pressure/high-temperature studies that have already been performed are described in the second part of this Ph.D. thesis. The almost 100% recoilless resonant radiation delivered by the source and its high brightness allow a broad field of SMS applications. The SMS can be utilized in any mode of synchrotron storage ring operation. 2. Study of the spin state of Fe3+ ions in perovskite Silicate perovskite (Mg,Fe)(Si,Al)O3 is the most abundant phase in the Earth’s lower mantle. Knowledge of its properties is indispensable for understanding lower mantle behavior. Dynamic, thermodynamic, and transport properties of silicate perovskite can be significantly affected by the valence and spin state of iron. Silicate perovskite with 5-10 mol% of Fe (where Fe3+/ΣFe ~50–75% (McCammon et al., 1997)) and Al, is dominant phase in Earth lower mantle (~75 vol%) (Zhang et al., 2006; Stackhouse et al., 2007). The behavior of Fe electronic properties under conditions close to those of the Earths lower mantle remains strongly controversial. The second part of my Ph.D. work is dedicated to an investigation of the spin state of iron in Fe3+- rich silicate perovskite at high pressure. Four different silicate perovskite samples with different stoichiometry were studied using the Synchrotron Mössbauer Source. SMS spectra were collected at room temperature and pressures up to 122 GPa using diamond anvil cells, with or without laser annealing of the samples. The hyperfine parameters, i.e., centre shift and quadrupole splitting, for the same phases, which were extracted from measured spectra for all perovskite samples studied in this work, are the same at each pressure within experimental error. Moreover, there is no change in Fe3+/ΣFe for individual samples over the entire pressure range of the experiment. The hyperfine parameters of the Fe3+ doublet are consistent with the high-spin state (Gütlich et al., 2011), and their smooth variation with pressure indicates that Fe3+ does not undergo spin crossover within the entire pressure range. All observed changes in the spectra are associated with abrupt changes in the electronic state of Fe2+. The hyperfine parameters of the low QS Fe2+ doublet correspond to the high-spin state (McCammon et al., 2008), while the doublet with high quadrupole splitting, whose intensity grows with pressure at the expense of the Fe2+ high-spin state, corresponds either to intermediate-spin (IS) Fe2+ (McCammon et al., 2008) or a distortion of the site occupied by high-spin Fe2+ (Hsu et al., 2010). Based on results presented in a work of Narygina (2010), we indentify changes in Fe2+ electronic structure as high-spin to intermediate spin transition. Irrespective of the interpretation of the Fe2+ spin state, conclusions regarding the absence of spin crossover in Fe3+ remain valid. These results show that the previously reported spin crossover of Fe3+ ions does not occur when Fe3+ occupies the A-site. In both alumina-containing and alumina-free silicate perovskites Fe3+ ions remain in the high-spin state up to at least 122 GPa, i.e., almost up to the pressure corresponding to the lower mantle - outer core boundary. The results also indicate that Fe3+ ions do not diffuse from the A-site to the B-site in perovskite after high-temperature annealing at high pressure, Mössbauer spectra of before and after annealing are identical. There is also no evidence for high-spin to low-spin crossover of Fe3+ ions due to site change. In contrast, the results confirm that Fe2+ ions undergo a transition from a high-spin to an intermediate spin state, without reaching a low-spin state within the studied pressure range at room temperature. These results suggest that the seismic velocity anomalies in the lower mantle cannot be attributed to spin crossover in Fe3+.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Bayreuth

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Potapkin, Vasily

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dubrovinsky, Leonid

Repository record source_url

https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/172/

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:epub.uni-bayreuth.de:172