3:30–4:30 pm Maria Goeppert-Mayer Lecture Hall
Quantum Optics with x-ray photons and ultra-narrow nuclear transitions
Olga Kocharovskaya, Texas A&M
Narrow optical resonances due to quantum transitions in atoms, molecules, quantum dots, rare-earth ions, and color centers constitute the basis of quantum optics. They found numerous applications in atomic clocks, quantum sensors, computations, communication, imaging, etc.
Some recoilless nuclear resonances in the hard x-ray range possess much higher quality factors than those employed in atomic clocks. Moreover, such high-quality nuclear resonances may occur even at room temperature and solid-state density. They offer an appealing platform for new precision metrology capable, for example, of detecting a gravitational red shift with a sub-mm displacement and temporal dependence of the fundamental constants. They could provide the basis for a super-dense quantum nuclear memory and nuclear clock. However, their interfacing with the resonant x-ray photons is challenging due to the absence of high-quality cavities and bright coherent sources in the hard x-ray range.
In this talk we will review theoretical and experimental progress in this field including the demonstration of the coherent waveform shaping of the hard x-ray photons, acoustically induced transparency, spectral intensity enhancement, quantum storage, and recent resonant excitation of the 12.4 keV long-lived (0.46s) nuclear transition in 45Sc (so far, perhaps, the highest quality factor’s resonance, Q=8.5x1018, ever excited) by a train of pulses from the European XFEL.