Contribution of Copper Nqr Spectroscopy to the Geological Studies of Complex Sulfides and Oxides

Abstract

Many energy-related areas such as nuclear waste isolation, continental drilling, fossil fuel recovery, and geothermal energy are directly associated with an in-depth understanding of the earth sciences. Of particular interest is the development of analytical techniques which can augment existing ones in developing a better understanding of mineralogy.Presently, available instrumental techniques for studying mineralogical problems such as x-ray, electron and neutron diffraction, nuclear gamma resonance (NGR or Mössbauer spectroscopy), electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have inherent limitations. These manifest themselves in being unable to characterize mineral samples fully, especially if they are polycrystalline.Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) spectroscopy offers the potential for being able to obtain accurate high resolution spectra. These can then be interpreted to give structural information which can be related to local electronic structure, atomic arrangement, order/disorder phenomena, and crystal phase transformation. In addition, internal dynamics (ionic diffusion, ______ *