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Photoinduced quenching of the Th229 isomer in a solid-state host

J. E. S. Terhune1, R. Elwell1, H. B. Tran Tan2,3, U. C. Perera2, H. W. T. Morgan4,5, A. N. Alexandrova4, Andrei Derevianko2, and Eric R. Hudson1,6,7

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L022062 – Published 11 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/glzr-thyw

Abstract

The population dynamics of the Th229 isomeric state is studied in a solid-state host under laser illumination. A photoquenching process is observed, where off-resonant vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) radiation leads to relaxation of the isomeric state. The cross-section for this photoquenching process is measured, and a model for the decay process, where photoexcitation of electronic states within the material band gap opens an internal conversion decay channel, is presented and appears to reproduce the measured cross-section. By engineering defects into Th229-doped solid-state hosts, this previously unrecognized photoquenching process may be used to reduce the clock transition readout time and thereby increase the stability of the nuclear clock.

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Corrections

11 June, 2025

Correction: This paper should have published concurrently with F. Schaden et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 7, L022036 (2025).

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L022062– Published 11 June, 2025
  • Received 12 December 2024
  • Accepted 14 May 2025
  • Corrected 11 June 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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