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On the Direct Detection of 229m Th

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Lars Von der Wense

    1. Department of Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Garching, Bavaria, Germany

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  • Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D. thesis by the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Garching, Germany
  • Selected by Physics World as one of the top 10 physics breakthroughs in 2016
  • Marks the essential first step toward developing nuclear clocks
  • Describes the first detection of a nuclear transition that has been sought for 40 years
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Springer Theses (Springer Theses)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Lars Von der Wense
    Pages 1-13

  3. Theoretical Background

    • Lars Von der Wense
    Pages 15-49

  4. The History of \(^{229\mathrm {m}}\)Th

    • Lars Von der Wense
    Pages 51-86

  5. Experimental Setup

    • Lars Von der Wense
    Pages 87-129

  6. Measurements

    • Lars Von der Wense
    Pages 131-161

  7. Conclusion and Outlook

    • Lars Von der Wense
    Pages 163-168

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 169-224
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Keywords

About this book

This thesis describes the first detection of a nuclear transition that had been sought for 40 years, and marks the essential first step toward developing nuclear clocks.

Atomic clocks are currently the most reliable timekeepers. Still, they could potentially be outperformed by nuclear clocks, based on a nuclear transition instead of the atomic transitions employed to date. An elusive, extraordinary state in thorium-229 seems to be the only nuclear transition suitable for this purpose and feasible using currently available technology. Despite repeated efforts over the past 40 years, until recently we had not yet successfully detected the decay of this elusive state.

Addressing this gap, the thesis lays the foundation for the development of a new, better frequency standard, which will likely have numerous applications in satellite navigation and rapid data transfer. Further, it makes it possible to improve the constraints for time variations of fundamental constants and opens up the field of nuclear coherent control.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Garching, Bavaria, Germany

    Lars Von der Wense

About the author

Lars von der Wense has studied physics and mathematics at the University of Hamburg, Germany, finishing his diploma in theoretical physics in 2009 before proceeding to a master's course in applied mathematics at the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2011 he started his PhD at the Ludwig-Maximilians- University of Munich in experimental physics, leading to the successful direct detection of the thorium-229 nuclear clock transition, the nuclear state of lowest known energy that had resisted observation for 40 years. This work was published with Nature and elected into the top 10 physics breakthroughs of the year 2016 by Physics World. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: On the Direct Detection of 229m Th

  • Authors: Lars Von der Wense

  • Series Title: Springer Theses

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70461-6

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-70460-9Published: 23 January 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88941-2Published: 04 June 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-70461-6Published: 22 December 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2190-5053

  • Series E-ISSN: 2190-5061

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 224

  • Number of Illustrations: 62 b/w illustrations, 14 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Nuclear Physics, Heavy Ions, Hadrons, Measurement Science and Instrumentation

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