Theory of internal conversion of the thorium-229 nuclear isomer in solid-state hosts

2024/11/23 by Harry W. T. Morgan, H. B. Tran Tan, Morgan, H. W. T. +9 · 2 citations
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear physics research studies #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering #Radioactive element chemistry and processing

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2411.15641

openalex publication_date 2024/11/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Laser excitation of thorium-229 nuclei in doped wide bandgap crystals has been demonstrated recently, opening the possibility of developing ultrastable solid-state clocks and sensitive searches for new physics. We develop a quantitative theory of the internal conversion of isomeric thorium-229 in solid-state hosts. The internal conversion of the isomer proceeds by resonantly exciting a valence band electron to a defect state, accompanied by multi-phonon emission. We demonstrate that, if the process is energetically allowed, it generally quenches the isomer on timescales much faster than the isomer's radiative lifetime, despite thorium being in the +4 charge state in the valence band.

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• Theoretical evaluation of decay mode of ^229m Th in solid samples
• ²²⁹Th Nuclear Spectroscopy in an Opaque Material: Laser-Based Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy of ²²⁹ThO₂

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