Nuclear quadrupole moment of the 99Tc ground state

L. ERRICO; G. DARRIBA; M. RENTERÍA; Z. TANG; H. EMMERICH; S. COTTENIER

PHYSICAL REVIEW B - CONDENSED MATTER AND MATERIALS PHYSICS

APS

Año: 2008 vol. 77 p. 195118 - 195118

0163-1829

By combining first-principles calculations and existing nuclear magnetic resonance NMR experiments, we determine the quadrupole moment of the 9/2+ ground state of 99Tc to be (−)0.14 (3)b. This confirms the value of −0.129 (20)b, which is currently believed to be the most reliable experimental determination, and disagrees with two earlier experimental values. We supply ab initio calculated electric-field gradients for Tc in YTc2 and ZrTc2. If this calculated information would be combined with yet to be performed Tc-NMR experiments in these compounds, the error bar on the 99Tc ground state quadrupole moment could be further reduced.