Nuclear Fluorescence Using High-energy Synchrotron Radiation

We present some measurements of nuclear fluorescence which were made while exploring the potential of a unique source of very hard x-rays which was installed at ESRF until recently. It produced radiation of energies up to 1MeV. In this range there are many nuclear resonances, and so we made a small survey of some plausible candidates to see if they could indeed be excited using this source. Along with short-lived resonances, we were also able to indirectly populate long-lived isomeric states in several nuclei. Thus, simply exposing the samples to the white beam for a period of time caused them to be activated. The samples could them be removed from the beam and their emissions observed using an energy-resolving detector. Isomeric states in isotopes of indium, cadmium and silver were excited and their subsequent decay observed