Thursday, February 20, 2025, 16:00
WBGB/019
Sandro Kraemer, KU Leuven
Abstract:
The radioisotope thorium-229 features an isomeric state with an
exceptionally low excitation energy of around 8eV allowing for direct
laser-manipulation of a nucleus. Based on the ground-state transition,
various applications have been proposed, including a precise timekeeping
instrument, the nuclear clock. This instrument is expected to deliver
significant contributions to fundamental physics studies and allows for
the first time the development of an integrated fully solid-state-based
optical clock.
This talk will introduce the nuclear clock, review current development efforts towards its realization and highlight the contribution of recent experiments with radioactive ion beams.