Tags - (3) thorium-229 nuclear clock

Department(s)/lab(s): Department of Chemistry, Institute of Nuclear Chemistry | AK Duellmann - Nuclear Chemistry (TRIGA) @ JGU
Summary:

Duellmann heads nuclear chemistry at JGU (TRIGA reactor site) with joint appointments at GSI and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, working on the production, chemical separation and characterization of the heaviest elements. For this search the relevant thread is 229Th: his group supplies and prepares the isomeric thorium samples and molecular thorium ions that Wendt's laser spectroscopy and Schmidt-Kaler's ion traps interrogate en route to a nuclear clock, and he is part of the broader radioactive-molecule programme aimed at symmetry-violation searches. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the pivot is toward the next frontier of frequency metrology, where the 'sensor' is a nucleus rather than an electron shell -- an unusually good chemistry/physics interface for a postdoc.

Department(s)/lab(s): Institute of Physics (QUANTUM) | Quantenbit (AG Schmidt-Kaler) @ JGU
Summary:

Quantenbit operates segmented micro-structured Paul traps for scalable trapped-ion quantum information and, increasingly, for quantum sensing. Directions: (i) trapped Rydberg ions -- combining the tight confinement of a Paul trap with the giant polarizability of Rydberg states, which is simultaneously a fast-gate resource and an extremely sensitive electric-field probe; (ii) motional-mode sensing of electric fields and surface noise; (iii) deterministic single-ion implantation, where a cold ion is extracted from the trap and implanted with nm-scale placement -- directly relevant to building NV/donor arrays with known ion counts, and to single-ion detection validation; (iv) TACTICa, applying ion-trapping and quantum-logic spectroscopy to 229Th toward a nuclear clock; (v) single-atom heat engines and quantum thermodynamics. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the deterministic-implantation line is the natural upstream complement: it is the route to engineering NV ensembles/arrays with controlled density rather than relying on stochastic implantation. Strong local coupling to Budker (Th-229, exotic physics) and Wendt (laser ionization).

Department(s)/lab(s): Institute of Physics (QUANTUM) | LARISSA (AG Wendt) @ JGU
Summary:

The LARISSA group develops multi-step resonance ionization laser spectroscopy and RIMS: element- and isotope-selective laser ionization used both as an ultratrace analytical technique (actinide detection at extreme selectivity, environmental and nuclear-forensic samples) and as a spectroscopy tool for exotic and short-lived isotopes, feeding ion-source development for facilities such as ISOLDE/CERN. A major current thrust is the atomic and ionic spectroscopy of thorium, including the 229mTh isomer that underpins the nuclear-clock effort, done jointly with Schmidt-Kaler's trap group and Duellmann's nuclear chemistry. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the transferable capability here is selective, quantum-state-resolved detection of single atoms/ions -- the readout problem, approached spectroscopically rather than magnetically.