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arXiv:2203.15639

Nuclear coherent population transfer to the $^{229m}$Th isomer using x-ray pulses

Kirschbaum, Tobias, N. Minkov, Adriana Pálffy

Published Mar 29, 2022• 0 citations
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Abstract

Population of the 8 eV $^{229m}$Th isomer via the second nuclear excited state at 29.19 keV by means of coherent x-ray pulses is investigated theoretically. We focus on two nuclear coherent population transfer schemes using partially overlapping x-ray pulses known from quantum optics: stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), and successive $π$ pulses. Numerical results are presented for three possible experimental setups. Our results identify the Gamma Factory as the most promising scenario, where two ultraviolet pulses combined with relativistically accelerated ions deliver the required intensities for efficient isomer population. Our simulations require knowledge of the in-band and cross-band nuclear transition probabilities. We give theoretically predicted values for the latter and discuss them in the context of recent experiments.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2203.15639

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Nuclear coherent population transfer to the 229m^{229m}229mTh isomer using x-ray pulses
Population of the 8 eV 229m^{229m}229mTh isomer via the second nuclear excited state at 29.19 keV by means of coherent x-ray pulses is investigated theoretically. We focus on two nuclear coherent population transfer schemes using partially overlapping x-ray pulses known from quantum optics: stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), and successive πππ pulses. Numerical results are presented for three possible experimental setups. Our results identify the Gamma Factory as the most promising scenario, where two ultraviolet pulses combined with relativistically accelerated ions deliver the required intensities for efficient isomer population. Our simulations require knowledge of the in-band and cross-band nuclear transition probabilities. We give theoretically predicted values for the latter and discuss them in the context of recent experiments.
The controlled transfer of nuclear state population using two x-ray laser pulses is investigated theoretically. The laser pulses drive two nuclear transitions in a nuclear three-level system facilitating coherent population transfer via the quantum optics technique of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. To overcome present limitations of the x-ray laser frequency, we envisage accelerated nuclei interacting with two copropagating or crossed x-ray laser pulses in a three-beam setup. We present a systematic study of this setup providing both pulse temporal sequence and laser pulse intensity for optimized control of the nuclear state population. The tolerance for geometrical parameters such as laser beam divergence of the three-beam setup as well as for the velocity spread of the nuclear beam are studied and a two-photon resonance condition to account for experimental uncertainties is deduced. This additional condition gives a less strict requirement for the experimental implementation of the three-beam setup. Present experimental state of the art and future prospects are discussed.
Abstract Nuclear-state population transfer in the multi-lambda systems with N = 5 that interact with four x-ray laser pulses are investigated theoretically. By using the coincident pulses and stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) techniques, the population transfer from one initially populated ground state to an arbitrary coherent superposition of other ground states. Since the frequency of currently available x-ray lasers is lower than the gamma rays, in this method, x-ray laser pulses with different frequencies are interacting with the accelerated nuclei. We employ the Morris-Shore transformation to reduce the five-states system to two separate three-state and two-state linkage. The required laser intensities were calculated, which satisfy the conditions of coincident pulses and multi-lambda STIRAP techniques. Considering the spontaneous emission from excited states, the master equation has to be used for numerical study, and it is shown that an arbitrary superposition of final ground states can be obtained. Also, it is observed that by increasing the number of coincident pulses, the population of ground states gets closer to the ideal situation.
Abstract The complete population transfer from the first state to the fifth one in a five-state nuclear system that interacts with four x-ray laser pulses has been theoretically studied using the chain-STIRAP technique. In this scheme, it is assumed that the accelerated nucleus interacts with four x-ray laser pulses, and the relativistic factor is adjusted so that the resonance condition is established between the x-ray laser frequencies and the transition frequency of the nucleus. In this study, by establishing the adiabatic condition, the Hamiltonian of the system remains in the dark state. Therefore, the second and fourth states are not populated during the time evolution. Also, to eliminate the population of the third state during the interaction, the middle pulses are considered more significant compared to the first and last pulses. For the numerical study, 168Er is considered and, it is shown that the population is completely transferred from the first state to the fifth state.
Recent techniques in x-ray free electron lasers allow the generation of highly coherent, intense x-ray pulses with time lengths on the order of femtoseconds. Here we explore the possibilities of using such x-ray pulses to control matter based on coherence. In particular we propose a theoretical scheme to perform stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in the x-ray regime by using inner-hole excited states. Numerical results in two well-known systems, the neon atom and the carbon monoxide molecule, show a robust control of population transfer. In the molecule, vibrational selectivity is achieved with femtosecond x-ray pulses. This work supports the possibility of using two-color x-ray pulses for coherent control.
Coherent superposition of nuclear states in tripod systems using three x-ray laser pulses is investigated theoretically. The laser pulses transfer the population from one ground state to an arbitrary superposition of other ground states using coincident pulses and stimulated Raman adiabatic passage techniques. The short wavelengths needed in the frame of the nuclei are achieved by envisaging an accelerated nucleus interacting with three x-ray laser pulses. This study exploits the Morris-shore transformation to reduce the tripod system into a coupled three-state $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$-like system and a noncoupled state. We calculated the required laser intensities which satisfy the conditions of coincident pulses and adiabatic passage techniques. Considering the spontaneous emission from excited state $|4\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and unstable ground states $(|2\ensuremath{\rangle},|3\ensuremath{\rangle})$ to other states, we have used a master equation for numerical study, and the final fidelity of desired states with respect to the tolerance of laser intensities is studied numerically.
The electronic bridge (EB) excitation of nuclei has been found as a versatile approach to efficiently excite the ^{229}Th isomers. Previous studies on EB excitation have typically disregarded the hyperfine structure as well as the decay of the excited atoms and ions by just treating the nucleus-electron coupling perturbatively. In the present work, we apply a quantum-optical approach to nonperturbatively investigate EB excitation of ^{229}Th^{3+} ions. This approach considers both the hyperfine structure and atomic decay through dressed hyperfine state and quantum master equation techniques. Numerical results show that the isomeric steady-state population of the time-independent scheme is constrained by atomic decay to a maximum of only 27.9%. By leveraging the dark state, however, the (time-dependent) stimulated Raman adiabatic passage method theoretically reaches a remarkable 99.7% isomeric population transfer and demonstrates a potential nuclear-laser scheme via the EB mechanism. Our quantum-optical approach exhibits a large flexibility and paves a promising avenue for utilizing advanced quantum-control technologies to design and optimize experimental schemes of EB excitation.