Thorium doped strontium fluoride crystal: a unique candidate for solid nuclear optical clock material

2024/07/03 by Gong, Qiaorui, Li, Shanming, Zhang, Shulong +7
#FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Optics (physics.optics)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2407.03128

Abstract

We report a candidate with unique advantages in the cultivation of solid-state nuclear clock material, Th:SrF2 crystal. It not only has a segregation coefficient close to 1, which can achieve highly efficient and uniform doping of Th, but also ensures a high transmittance (~69% at 150 nm) while achieving extremely high doping concentration (232Th>6*10²0 cm^(-3). In addition, SrF2 crystal will not be irradiated-colored under strong α radiation like CaF2 crystal, Th:SrF2 crystal is expected to fully unleash its high concentration doping characteristics while ensuring its transmission performance in nuclear transition band not be severely affected by 229Th radiation damage.

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