The observation of the VUV signal from the isomeric state of 229 thorium nuclei toward realizing the atomic clock

ORAL

Abstract

Toward the nuclear clock’s realization, the problem of ambiguity of isomeric energy and its lifetime must be overcome by experimental measurement of de-excitation from the isomeric state of thorium-229 nuclei with emitting photons.

In our experiment, the thorium-229 nuclei are excited to an isomeric state via the 2nd excited level(29 keV) by irradiation of X-ray as synchrotron radiation from SPring-8. A dedicated measurement system captures the decay events in which the isomeric thorium nucleus emits photons within the VUV region. Finally, we have demonstrated the measurement of the VUV signal and determined both isomeric energy and lifetime. In our presentation, the current status and recent results would be reported.

*The experiment was conducted at SPring-8 with the approval of the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (proposals 2019B1619, 2020A1284, 2021A1389, 2021B1516, 2022A1401, 2022B1418, 2022B1936, 2023A1415 and 2023A1358) and RIKEN. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers JP19H00685, JP19K21879, JP19K14740, JP21H04473, JP21H01094, JP22K20371 and JP23K13125. The research was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Projects: I5971 (REThorIC) and Itoh Science Foundation.

Presenters

  • Koichi Okai

    • Okayama University
    • Okayama Univ

Authors

  • Koichi Okai

    • Okayama University
    • Okayama Univ
  • kjeld beeks

    • EPFL
    • TU Wien
  • Hiroyuki Fujimoto

    • AIST
  • Yuta Fukunaga

    • Okayama University
  • Ming Guan

    • Okayama University
  • Hiromitsu Haba

    • RIKEN
    • RIKEN Nishina center
    • Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, RIKEN
  • Takahiro Hiraki

    • Okayama University
  • Yoshitaka Kasamatsu

    • Osaka University
  • Shinji Kitao

    • Kyoto University
  • Kenji Konashi

    • Tohoku University
  • Takahiko Masuda

    • Okayama University
    • Okayama Univ
  • Nobumoto Nagasawa

    • JASRI
  • Ryoichiro Ogake

    • Okayama University
  • Noboru Sasao

    • Okayama University
  • Fabian Schaden

    • TU Wien
  • Thorsten Schumm

    • TU Wien
  • Makoto Seto

    • Kyoto University
  • Yudai Shigekawa

    • RIKEN
    • RIKEN Nishina Center
  • Kotaro Shimizu

    • Okayama University
  • Sayuri Takatori

    • Okayama University
  • Kenji Tamasaku

    • RIKEN
  • Satoshi Uetake

    • Okayama University
  • Makoto Watanabe

    • Tohoku University
  • Tsukasa Watanabe

    • AIST
  • Rei Yamamoto

    • Okayama University
  • Atsushi Yamaguchi

    • RIKEN
  • Yoshitaka Yoda

    • JASRI
  • Akihiro Yoshimi

    • Okayama University
  • Koji Yoshimura

    • Okayama University
  • Motohiko Yoshimura

    • Okayama University