Speaker
Description
The thorium-229 nucleus has an exceptionally low first excited isomeric state at around 8 eV. As it can be excited by laser light, it is expected to be used in the development of nuclear clocks. In particular, solid-state nuclear clocks employing crystals doped with thorium-229 are anticipated to enable compact and outstandingly stable time standards as they can simultaneously excite a large number of nuclei. An excitation scheme with a narrow-band laser must be tuned to a transition in the nuclear level scheme, which is strongly influenced by the surrounding crystal structure. In this study, we conducted X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurement on calcium fluoride (CaF₂) crystals doped with thorium and uranium to investigate their charge states and local structures in the solid state. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the XAFS experiments and the results of the characterization evaluation.
