Hannover 2013 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 43: Poster II

Q 43.47: Poster

Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 16:00–18:30, Empore Lichthof

Coherent pulse propagation in nuclear media — •Xiangjin Kong and Adriana Pálffy — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg

Moving towards quantum interactions in the x-ray regime, new physical systems come into play, e.g., nuclei with low-lying collective states naturally arise as candidates for x-ray quantum optics studies. The coupling of nuclei with the radiation field is however significantly weaker than for atoms. For low x-ray intensities, this can lead to the delocalized excitation of a single nucleus. However, as long as elastic, recoil-free scattering of the incident light occurs, the contributions of all potential scatterers (nuclei) are spatially in phase in the forward direction and interfere coherently [1]. Thus the time evolution of the forward scattering response does not follow a natural exponential decay as expected for fluorescence involving a single-scattering event, but exhibits pronounced intensity modulations characteristic for the coherent resonant pulse propagation [1].

Here we investigate the situation of two counterpropagating resonant x-ray fields incident on a nuclear sample and the spatial distribution of the nuclear excitation probability. The coherent propagation in one direction can be under certain conditions controlled by the second counterpropagating pulse. This is a first step towards the study of coherent nuclear excitation in an x-ray cavity using x-ray mirrors at normal incidence [2].

[1] U. van Bürck, Hyperfine Interact. 123/124, 483 (1999).

[2] Y. Shvyd’ko et al., Nature Photon. 5, 539 (2011).