Mössbauer diffraction and interference studies of polycrystalline metals and alloys

After a review of previous work on Mössbauer diffraction and interference phenomena, the principles of the kinematical theory of Mössbauer diffraction are presented. The emphasis is on how the spectroscopic capabilities of the Mössbauer effect can be used to advantage in diffraction studies on materials and condensed matter. Experimental results from Mössbauer powder diffractometry experiments are presented. These results identify the difficulties of Mössbauer powder diffraction experiments, but also demonstrate that a unique chemical environment selectivity is possible for Mössbauer diffraction. Future experiments with Mössbauer powder diffraction require the development of efficient detectors, and some possibilities are suggested.