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International Laser Science Conference

Progress in the gamma-ray laser program at Texas. 2: coherent techniques for pumping a gamma-ray laser

S. S. Wagal, P. W. Reittinger, E. M. Juengerman, C. D. Eberhard, C. B. Collins

Published Jan 1, 1986• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

As its name implies, coherent upconversion would allow nuclear materials to be pumped with an intense but conventional coherent source such as a laser. Threshold powers would be much lower than usually projected for a gamma-ray laser and the pump sources could be drawn from a more mature technology. This scheme for pumping a gamma-ray laser depends on the development of states of nuclear excitation dressed by the photons of the pump field. Of particular importance is that the metastability of adressed isomeric state would be released, and with it the stored energy. Recently we published a Letter showing a rather close agreement between our first experimental measurements and a dressed state theory. As described in this paper, additional spectroscopic detail has been measured which now shows strong quantum structure that resulted from the formation of a resonance arising from certain dressed states of Fe-57 driven by intense rf fields. Moreover, these dressed states of nuclear excitation were found to have just the properties expected. Critical significance accrues from this result because the dressed states were created in iron nuclei diluted in nonmagnetic stainless steel by the transfer of a driving B-field that had been greatly enhanced by the ferromagnetism of an adjacent layer. In this way the dependence of dressed nuclear states on the ferromagnetism of their diluent was eliminated.

DOI
10.1364/ils.1986.tud4

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As its name implies, coherent upconversion would allow nuclear materials to be pumped with an intense but conventional coherent source such as a laser. Threshold powers would be much lower than usually projected for a gamma-ray laser and the pump sources could be drawn from a more mature technology. This scheme for pumping a gamma-ray laser depends on the development of states of nuclear excitation dressed by the photons of the pump field. Of particular importance is that the metastability of adressed isomeric state would be released, and with it the stored energy. Recently we published a Letter showing a rather close agreement between our first experimental measurements and a dressed state theory. As described in this paper, additional spectroscopic detail has been measured which now shows strong quantum structure that resulted from the formation of a resonance arising from certain dressed states of Fe-57 driven by intense rf fields. Moreover, these dressed states of nuclear excitation were found to have just the properties expected. Critical significance accrues from this result because the dressed states were created in iron nuclei diluted in nonmagnetic stainless steel by the transfer of a driving B-field that had been greatly enhanced by the ferromagnetism of an adjacent layer. In this way the dependence of dressed nuclear states on the ferromagnetism of their diluent was eliminated.
This report results from a contract tasking Moscow State University as follows: Exploration of methods to control the radiative gamma- processes in nuclei is currently one of the most promising investigation directions of the modern Quantum Nucleonics - a new realm of contemporary Physics which spreads the basic conceptual ideas and methods of optical Quantum Electronics of atoms and molecules to the gamma-ray range and atomic nuclei and even anti-particles. One of the most important problems in this field is the generation of coherent gamma-radiation by a Gamma-ray Lasing (GRL) process which makes use of excited nuclei as an amplifying medium. The most likely medium for gamma-ray lasers is an ensemble of metastable nuclear isomers, Direct excitation of these isomeric states by electrons or X-ray photons will also create a deeper understanding of nuclear structure and properties.
This work concerns the demonstration of the feasibility of the tuning and perhaps even stimulation of nuclear radiation. Theory1–3 has indicated that anti-Stokes Raman up- conversion of intense but conventional long-wavelength sources of radiation produced by scattering from isomeric states of nuclear excitation could lead to significant sources of tunable γ radiation characterized by the natural Mossbauer width of the lines. This would result in lines with sub-angstrom wavelengths and widths of a few megahertz. Further computations4 have suggested that this type of coherent, as well as a new type of incoherent, optical pumping could even lead to appreciable levels of inversion of the population of nuclear levels that would be capable of supporting the growth of stimulated γ-ray intensity. Whether these processes can reach threshold depends on the resolution of basic issues lying in an interdisciplinary region between quantum electronics and nuclear physics that have not been previously addressed.
The direct interaction between nuclei and strong electromagnetic fields generated by novel coherent x-ray light sources such as the x-ray free electron laser is studied. We investigate the case of various stable or long-lived isotopes with energetically low-lying excited states, where the laser drives the nuclear transition from the ground to the first excited state. We therefore consider the nucleus as a two-level system including the corresponding hyperfine levels in our theoretical description. The performance of present and upcoming x-ray free electron laser facilities in coherently controlling the nuclear excited state population is analyzed for setups involving both solid state as well as accelerated nuclear targets to bridge the gap between photon and transition frequency. Current and predicted laser parameters are applied to calculate excited state populations and signal photon rates of nuclei after a radiation pulse, finding significant improvements compared to former calculations. Furthermore, we determine the parameters necessary to transfer substantial amounts of the nuclear ground state population to the excited state, and therefore to bring nuclear Rabi-oscillation within reach. Additionally, we take into account for the first time collective effects that take place in solid state targets and show that they may provide a significant effect in broadening natural linewidths of nuclear levels depending on the experimental setup. Our findings support the case of nuclear quantum optics for XFEL applications. Therefore, one hopes that eventually coherent control of nuclear transitions can be successfully applied in a number of areas in nuclear physics including preparation, control and detection methods.
This work concerns the demonstration of the feasibility of the tuning and perhaps even stimulation of nuclear radiation. Theory [1-3] has indicated that anti-Stokes Raman upconversion of intense but conventional long wavelength sources of radiation produced by scattering from isomeric states of nuclear excitation could lead to significant sources of tunable y-radiation characterized by the natural Mössbauer width of the lines. This would result in lines with sub-Angstrom wavelengths and widths of a few MHz. Further computations [4] have suggested that this type of coherent, as well as a new type of incoherent, optical pumping could even lead to appreciable levels of inversion of the population of nuclear levels that would be capable of supporting the growth of stimulated y-ray intensity. Whether or not these processes can reach threshold depends upon the resolution of basic issues lying in an interdisciplinary region between quantum electronics and nuclear physics that have not been previously addressed. It was the purpose of this work to study these issues experimentally.
There is a possibility that an isomer can be found which could be used to obtain a sufficient population inversion density to bring about nuclear lasing. If it can be realized, a gamma ray laser ("graser") will be a new source of radiation in the sim\\simsim 1A region of unexcelled spectral brightness and coherence, and can be expected to have revolutionary consequences for physics, biology, and chemistry. The result of our research is that the effects of crystallinity are of crucial importance in considerations regarding gamma-ray lasers, bringing in new elements to laser theory which could very well prove decisive in determining whether grasing can or cannot be achieved.\nCertain multi-beam Borrmann eigenmodes of the radiation field in a perfect crystal have much stronger coupling to the emitting nuclei, and much less photoabsorption, than modes in the amorphous case. These modes may be selectively fed by nuclear transitions of the proper multipolarity. A crystal containing such emitters would require orders of magnitude less population inversion density in order to lase than would an amorphous sample of similar material.\nMulti-beam Borrmann modes also have several applications to single-photon optics, particularly the problem of anomalous emission of a gamma\\gammagamma-ray by an internal source of multipolarity M1 or higher. While this effect can occur for a 2-beam Borrmann mode, even stronger anomalous emission is possible into multi-beam Borrmann modes. In addition, certain multi-beam Borrmann modes can anomalously transmit resonant radiation through a Mossbauer crystal. (This cannot occur for the 2-beam modes, except for the case of an E1 transition, since the Borrmann mode couples strongly to the nuclei and thus will be strongly absorbed at resonance.)
Summary form only given. The gamma-ray laser dilemma states that incoherent pump required to produce a population inversion would unavoidable destroy the conditions of the Mossbauer and Borrmann effects which are crucial for realization of the net gain. For four decades this dilemma prevailed all over the researches on gamma-ray lasers, making hopeless any attempt to approach a problem of gamma-ray laser. Recently it was shown that laser driving of bounded electronic transitions in atoms provides efficient manipulation by the Mossbauer spectra of nuclear transitions. Under certain conditions it leads to suppression of resonant absorption by 3-5 orders of magnitude reducing it up to the level of off-resonant losses in the host matrix. In turn, suppression of the resonant absorption reduces by the same amount the requirement for incoherent pump and accordingly heating of the active sample. This allows to pump active nuclei in the host lattice without destroying the conditions of both Mossbauer and Borrmann effects. Moreover it allows to pump resonantly at the operating transition that increases additionally the efficiency of the incoherent pump by 1-2 orders of magnitude. All together gamma-ray laser schemes involving laser driving of electronic transitions reduce the laser threshold by 4-7 orders of magnitude and hence suggest a completely new path for solution of the gamma-ray laser problem.