Check of the paradoxical results of experiments on resonance self-absorption of γ-quanta of 109Ag in silver crystals

The temperature dependence of the intensity of γ-quanta of 109Ag with an energy of 88 keV, emitted in the horizontal and vertical directions from a single-crystal plate of silver containing 109Cd, the radioactive decay of which produces excited nuclei of 109Ag, is investigated. The gamma radiation of this specimen and a control γ-source of 57CO were recorded by two Ge(Li)-detectors. When the specimen is cooled from 77 K to ∼ 12 K there is a relative drop in the intensity of γ-quanta of 109Ag emitted in the horizontal direction by 0.00064 ± 0.00044. For the vertical direction the analogous quantity turned out to be of opposite sign and equal to -0.00047 ± 0.00051. These preliminary data would appear to favor existing suggestions of a slight broadening of the γ-resonance of the 109Ag nuclei in silver single crystals. However, in further experiments, in which the accuracy is increased considerably, it will have to be established whether the difference in these quantities is due to some apparatus effects