Internal conversion from excited electronic states of ${}^{229}\mathrm{T}h$ ions

Abstract

The process of internal conversion from excited electronic states is investigated theoretically for the case of the vacuum-ultraviolet nuclear transition of ${}^{229}\mathrm{T}h$. Due to the very low transition energy, the ${}^{229}\mathrm{T}h$ nucleus offers the unique possibility to open the otherwise forbidden internal conversion nuclear decay channel for thorium ions via optical laser excitation of the electronic shell. We show that this feature can be exploited to investigate the isomeric state properties via observation of internal conversion from excited electronic configurations of ${\mathrm{T}h}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{T}h}^{2+}$ ions. A possible experimental realization of the proposed scenario at the nuclear laser spectroscopy facility IGISOL in Jyväskylä, Finland is discussed.

10 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables

References in corpus (7)

• Direct detection of the 229Th nuclear clock transition
• Proposal for a Nuclear Gamma-Ray Laser of Optical Range
• Lifetime measurement of the ${}^{229}$Th nuclear isomer
• Excitation of the isomeric ^{229m}Th nuclear state via an electronic bridge process in ^{229}Th^+
• Nuclear clocks based on resonant excitation of gamma-transitions
• Theory of nuclear excitation by electron capture for heavy ions
• Coherence-enhanced optical determination of the ${}^{229}$Th isomeric transition

Cited by in corpus (5)

• ${}^{93m}$Mo isomer depletion via beam-based nuclear excitation by electron capture
• Excitation of ${}^{229m}$Th at Inelastic Scattering of Low Energy Electrons
• Theory of internal conversion of the thorium-229 nuclear isomer in solid-state hosts
• Internal conversion of the low energy ${}^{229m}$Th isomer in the Thorium anion
• Proposal for a Nuclear Light Source