Berlin 2014 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 35: Poster: Interaction with VUV and X-ray light

A 35.6: Poster

Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais

A nuclear polariton with two entangled counter-propagating branches — Wen-Te Liao, •Fabian Lauble, and Adriana Pálffy — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

Recent developments of x-ray optics lay the foundation for controlling the quantum behavior of single x-ray photons. Apart from their potential in the field of quantum information, the probing proficiency of single x-ray quanta would be an appreciated counterpart to traditional imaging techniques with intense x-ray beams. Here we present a setup for generating the special superposition of a simultaneously forward- and backward-propagating collective excitation in a nuclear sample [1]. This can be achieved by actively manipulating the scattering channels of single x-ray quanta with the help of a normal incidence x-ray mirror to create a nuclear polariton which propagates in two opposite directions. The two counter-propagating polariton branches are entangled by a single x-ray photon, while their phase relation can be controlled by the hyperfine magnetic field in the sample either by coherent storage [2] or by magnetic field rotations [3]. The quantum nature of the polariton entanglement gives rise to a sub-Ångstrom wavelength standing wave excitation pattern [1] that can be used as a flexible tool to dynamically probe matter on the atomic scale.

[1] W.-T. Liao and A. Pálffy, arXiv:1308.3121 (2013).
[2] W.-T. Liao, A. Pálffy and C. H. Keitel, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 197403 (2012).
[3] Y. V. Shvyd’ko et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3232 (1996).