HITHOR
Financiado
Highly Ionized Trapped 229-Thorium:A New Paradigm Towards a Nuclear Clock
"Among the more than 3000 nuclides that are naturally occurring or that have been artificially synthesized, thorium-229 is truly exceptional. Its remarkably low excitation energy makes it the ideal candidate for nuclear frequency...
"Among the more than 3000 nuclides that are naturally occurring or that have been artificially synthesized, thorium-229 is truly exceptional. Its remarkably low excitation energy makes it the ideal candidate for nuclear frequency metrology, surpassing current atomic clocks. Such a ""nuclear clock"" opens doors to fundamental physics, testing time-variations of constants and exploring the enigma of dark matter.
Within HITHOR a conceptually novel methodology towards such a clock is proposed, eventually leading to a no-electron bare-nucleus clock with trapped fully ionized 229Th90+ where all external perturbations from surrounding electrons are absent. Highly-ionized 229Th will be established as a distinctive laboratory for scientific explorations at the interface of atomic electrons and the nucleus.
By adding a single electron to the nucleus, the unique effect of nuclear hyperfine mixing (NHM) is unlocked. Induced by the strong magnetic field of this one electron, a vast acceleration of the nuclear decay by up to a millionfold is triggered. Hence, for one-electron 229Th89+ laser excitation of the nucleus as well as the reemission of photons are each enhanced by up to this factor of a million. To date, laser excitation of the nucleus hasn’t been accomplished. NHM will help to overcome this obstacle and exploited as a booster towards 229Th laser excitation and a corresponding nuclear clock.
HITHOR will be realized at the ion storage and trapping facilities at GSI in Darmstadt, the only laboratory worldwide where highly ionized 229Th can be synthesized in flight, decelerated, and finally trapped at rest. At GSI and its Helmholtz Institute Jena, I will bring together the extraordinary expertise of in-house scientists from the various disciplines required to tackle the challenges. Initial experiments will pave the path towards high-precision VUV laser spectroscopy of few- or no-electron 229Th, and ultimately towards a single-ion quantum logic nuclear clock."
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Duración del proyecto: 61 meses
Fecha Inicio: 2024-05-03
Fecha Fin: 2029-06-30
Fecha Fin: 2029-06-30
Línea de financiación: concedida
El organismo HORIZON EUROPE notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2024-05-03
Línea de financiación objetivo
El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
ERC-2023-ADG:
ERC ADVANCED GRANTS
Cerrada
hace 1 año
Presupuesto
El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a
2M€
Líder del proyecto
GSI HELMHOLTZZENTRUM FUR SCHWERIONENFORSCHUNG...
No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5