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Toward direct VUV frequency comb spectroscopy of the <sup>229m</sup>Th nuclear state

ORAL

Abstract

Recent breakthroughs searching for the low-energy 229mTh isomeric state have constrained its energy range to 8.12 ± 0.11 eV, within the reach of state-of-the-art VUV frequency combs. Direct VUV frequency comb spectroscopy of the 229mTh isomeric state in the ongoing experiment at JILA promises a further reduction of its energy uncertainty by 6 orders of magnitude, making it possible to develop a nuclear-based optical clock. In neutral atoms, the 229mTh state decays dominantly via the internal-conversion channel with a lifetime of about 10 us. Using this decay channel, we designed our experiment for optical excitation of the isomeric state on a thin (10 nm) 229Th layer deposited on a metallic substrate irradiated by the JILA VUV frequency comb. We will present our progress in this experimental effort.

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Publication: Published: von der Wense, L., Zhang, C. Concepts for direct frequency-comb spectroscopy of 229mTh and an internal-conversion-based solid-state nuclear clock. Eur. Phys. J. D 74, 146 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2020-100582-5<br><br>Submitted: Toward a Tunable VUV Frequency Comb for 229mTh Nuclear Spectroscopy, CLEO 2021 abstract

Presenters

  • Chuankun Zhang

    JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

Authors

  • Chuankun Zhang

    JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

  • Lars von der Wense

    University of Colorado, Boulder, JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

  • Peng Li

    IMRA America, Inc., 1044 Woodridge Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48105, USA

  • Jie Jiang

    IMRA America, Inc., 1044 Woodridge Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48105, USA

  • Martin E Fermann

    IMRA America, Inc., 1044 Woodridge Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48105, USA

  • Jun Ye

    JILA and University of Colorado Boulder, JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Colorado, Boulder, JILA, NIST, and University of Colorado Boulder, JILA, University of Colorado Boulder, JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA, JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA, JILA, NIST, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, JILA, NIST, and University of Colorado, Boulder, JILA, NIST, and University of Colorado at Boulder