A laser excitation scheme for ${}^{229\text{m}}$Th

Abstract

Direct laser excitation of the lowest known nuclear excited state in ${}^{229}$Th has been a longstanding objective. It is generally assumed that reaching this goal would require a considerably reduced uncertainty of the isomer's excitation energy compared to the presently adopted value of $(7.8\pm 0.5)$ eV. Here we present a direct laser excitation scheme for ${}^{229\text{m}}$Th, which circumvents this requirement. The proposed excitation scheme makes use of already existing laser technology and therefore paves the way for nuclear laser spectroscopy. In this concept, the recently experimentally observed internal-conversion decay channel of the isomeric state is used for probing the isomeric population. A signal-to-background ratio of better than $10^4$ and a total measurement time of less than three days for laser scanning appear to be achievable.

References in corpus (4)

• Direct detection of the 229Th nuclear clock transition
• Lifetime measurement of the ${}^{229}$Th nuclear isomer
• Nuclear clocks based on resonant excitation of gamma-transitions
• Electric dipole-forbidden nuclear transitions driven by super-intense laser fields

Cited by in corpus (5)

• High-Precision Ramsey-Comb Spectroscopy Based on High-Harmonic Generation
• Excitation of the ${}^{229}$Th nucleus via a two-photon electronic transition
• The concept of laser-based conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy for a precise energy determination of ${}^{229m}$Th
• Studies of thorium and ytterbium ion trap loading from laser ablation for gravity monitoring with nuclear clocks
• 'Phase Transition' in the 'Thorium-Isomer Story'