Observation of internal-conversion electrons induced by inelastic nuclear resonant scattering

Measurements of the internal-conversion electron emission due to the inelastic nuclear resonant excitation are reported. image thin films of 20 and 1.3 nm thickness were deposited on Si(1 1 1), and the internal-conversion electrons were measured as a function of the photon energy. From the inelastic part of the spectra, the phonon density of states was obtained. Whereas the phonon density of states of 20-nm thick film resembles that of bulk image-Fe, the 1.3-nm thick film revealed an obvious softening of the acoustic mode.