Data Analysis

Although simple analysis can be performed by eye on Mössbauer spectra (eg seeing whether a sample is magnetised or not) to determine the hyperfine parameters computer analysis is necessary. The raw data is collected by a data acquisition computer system and transferred to a Sun Solaris system for analysis. The spectrum is folded and a theoretical spectrum is calculated according to specified hyperfine parameters and compared to the data. The parameters can then be varied to obtain the lowest $\chi ^{2}$ value and give the best fit.

As there are a number of minima of $\chi ^{2}$ that can be obtained from various points in parameter space the resulting fits must then be checked for consistent parameters to ensure a fit that is physically valid.