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arXiv · 2001.06421

Electronic bridge excitation in highly charged Th-229 ions

Pavlo V. Bilous·Hendrik Bekker·Julian Berengut·Benedict Seiferle·Lars von der Wense·Peter G. Thirolf·Thomas Pfeifer·José R. Crespo López-Urrutia·Adriana Pálffy
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Abstract

The excitation of the 8 eV $^{229m}$Th isomer through the electronic bridge mechanism in highly charged ions is investigated theoretically. By exploiting the rich level scheme of open $4f$ orbitals and the robustness of highly charged ions against photoionization, a pulsed high-intensity optical laser can be used to efficiently drive the nuclear transition by coupling it to the electronic shell. We show how to implement a promising electronic bridge scheme in an electron beam ion trap starting from a metastable electronic state. This setup would avoid the need for a tunable vacuum ultraviolet laser. Based on our theoretical predictions, determining the isomer energy with an uncertainty of $10^{-5}$ eV could be achieved in one day of measurement time using realistic laser parameters.

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Pavlo V. Bilous, Hendrik Bekker, Julian Berengut, Benedict Seiferle, Lars von der Wense, Peter G. Thirolf, Thomas Pfeifer, José R. Crespo López-Urrutia, Adriana Pálffy. 2020-01-17. Electronic bridge excitation in highly charged Th-229 ions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.124.192502

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