Mechanically ChoppedγRays; Quantitative Treatment of the Sideband Intensities

Abstract

We report the generation of sidebands in the energy spectrum of 14.4-keV $\gamma$ rays by a periodic modulation of the properties of the medium between the emitting and absorbing atoms. The observed spectrum agrees in detail with a "chopping" calculation that encompasses both amplitude and phase modulation, although the modulator may equally well be viewed as a moving multislit grating. This is the first experiment in which the observed sidebands in the $\gamma$-ray spectrum have been quantitatively understood.