¹⁹⁷Au Mössbauer study of gold selenide, AuSe

The two crystallographic modifications of AuSe, α-AuSe and (β-AuSe, were studied by ¹⁹⁷Au Mössbauer spectroscopy. Despite the different crystal structures, the Mössbauer spectra of the two phases are nearly the same, and reveal the presence of two gold sites with Mössbauer parameters typical for Au^I Au^III. The Mössbauer-Lamb factor of the Au^I is less than half of that of the Au^III. Calculations using the WIEN2k program reproduce the experimental results quite well and also yield the signs of the electric field gradients.