• Open Access

Nuclear Excitation of the Th229 Isomer via Defect States in Doped Crystals

Brenden S. Nickerson, Martin Pimon, Pavlo V. Bilous, Johannes Gugler, Kjeld Beeks, Tomas Sikorsky, Peter Mohn, Thorsten Schumm, and Adriana Pálffy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 032501 – Published 13 July 2020

Abstract

When Th nuclei are doped in CaF2 crystals, a set of electronic defect states appear in the crystal band gap which would otherwise provide complete transparency to vacuum-ultraviolet radiation. The coupling of these defect states to the 8 eV Th229m nuclear isomer in the CaF2 crystal is investigated theoretically. We show that although previously viewed as a nuisance, the defect states provide a starting point for nuclear excitation via electronic bridge mechanisms involving stimulated emission or absorption using an optical laser. The rates of these processes are at least 2 orders of magnitude larger than direct photoexcitation of the isomeric state using available light sources. The nuclear isomer population can also undergo quenching when triggered by the reverse mechanism, leading to a fast and controlled decay via the electronic shell. These findings are relevant for a possible solid-state nuclear clock based on the Th229m isomeric transition.

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  • Received 15 April 2020
  • Accepted 16 June 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.032501

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Brenden S. Nickerson1,*, Martin Pimon2, Pavlo V. Bilous1, Johannes Gugler2, Kjeld Beeks3, Tomas Sikorsky3, Peter Mohn2, Thorsten Schumm3, and Adriana Pálffy1,†

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2Center for Computational Material Science, Technische Universität Wien, 1040 Vienna, Austria
  • 3Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, 1020 Vienna, Austria

  • *brenden.nickerson@mpi-hd.mpg.de
  • Palffy@mpi-hd.mpg.de

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Vol. 125, Iss. 3 — 17 July 2020

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