Optical Transmission Enhancement of Ionic Crystals via Superionic Fluoride Transfer: Growing VUV-Transparent Radioactive Crystals

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Hauptverfasser: Beeks, Kjeld, Sikorsky, Tomas, Schaden, Fabian, Pressler, Martin, Schneider, Felix, Koch, Björn N., Pronebner, Thomas, Werban, David, Hosseini, Niyusha, Kazakov, Georgy, Welch, Jan, Sterba, Johannes H., Kraus, Florian, Schumm, Thorsten
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Beeks, Kjeld
Sikorsky, Tomas
Schaden, Fabian
Pressler, Martin
Schneider, Felix
Koch, Björn N.
Pronebner, Thomas
Werban, David
Hosseini, Niyusha
Kazakov, Georgy
Welch, Jan
Sterba, Johannes H.
Kraus, Florian
Schumm, Thorsten
author_facet Beeks, Kjeld
Sikorsky, Tomas
Schaden, Fabian
Pressler, Martin
Schneider, Felix
Koch, Björn N.
Pronebner, Thomas
Werban, David
Hosseini, Niyusha
Kazakov, Georgy
Welch, Jan
Sterba, Johannes H.
Kraus, Florian
Schumm, Thorsten
contents The 8 eV first nuclear excited state in $^{229}$Th is a candidate for implementing an nuclear clock. Doping $^{229}$Th into ionic crystals such as CaF$_2$ is expected to suppress non-radiative decay, enabling nuclear spectroscopy and the realization of a solid-state optical clock. Yet, the inherent radioactivity of $^{229}$Th prohibits the growth of high-quality single crystals with high $^{229}$Th concentration; radiolysis causes fluoride loss, increasing absorption at 8 eV. We overcome this roadblock by annealing $^{229}$Th doped CaF$_2$ at 1250$\unicode{x2103}$ in CF$_4$. The technique presented here allows to adjust the fluoride content without crystal melting, preserving its single-crystal structure. Superionic state annealing ensures rapid fluoride distribution, creating fully transparent and radiation-hard crystals. This approach enables control over the charge state of dopants which can be used in deep UV optics, laser crystals, scintillators, and nuclear clocks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_13713
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optical Transmission Enhancement of Ionic Crystals via Superionic Fluoride Transfer: Growing VUV-Transparent Radioactive Crystals
Beeks, Kjeld
Sikorsky, Tomas
Schaden, Fabian
Pressler, Martin
Schneider, Felix
Koch, Björn N.
Pronebner, Thomas
Werban, David
Hosseini, Niyusha
Kazakov, Georgy
Welch, Jan
Sterba, Johannes H.
Kraus, Florian
Schumm, Thorsten
Materials Science
Nuclear Experiment
The 8 eV first nuclear excited state in $^{229}$Th is a candidate for implementing an nuclear clock. Doping $^{229}$Th into ionic crystals such as CaF$_2$ is expected to suppress non-radiative decay, enabling nuclear spectroscopy and the realization of a solid-state optical clock. Yet, the inherent radioactivity of $^{229}$Th prohibits the growth of high-quality single crystals with high $^{229}$Th concentration; radiolysis causes fluoride loss, increasing absorption at 8 eV. We overcome this roadblock by annealing $^{229}$Th doped CaF$_2$ at 1250$\unicode{x2103}$ in CF$_4$. The technique presented here allows to adjust the fluoride content without crystal melting, preserving its single-crystal structure. Superionic state annealing ensures rapid fluoride distribution, creating fully transparent and radiation-hard crystals. This approach enables control over the charge state of dopants which can be used in deep UV optics, laser crystals, scintillators, and nuclear clocks.
title Optical Transmission Enhancement of Ionic Crystals via Superionic Fluoride Transfer: Growing VUV-Transparent Radioactive Crystals
topic Materials Science
Nuclear Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.13713