Thorium-229 ( 229 Th) is a laser-excitable nucleus owing to its extremely low first excitation energy in the order of electron volts. Nuclear clocks, which utilize the resonance frequency of this unique nuclear isomer transition of 229 Th, are expected to demonstrate relatively higher accuracy compared to conventional atomic clocks. Particularly, solid-state nuclear clocks using 229 Th-doped crystals are expected to have a variety of applications for both fundamental physics and practical use in society as compact and precision clocks. However, laser excitation of 229 Th remains challenging due to the energy and lifetime uncertainty of the 229 Th isomer state. To address this challenge, we developed an original excitation method that does not attempt direct excitation to the first isometric state but instead excites to the second excitation state with transition properties and generates the isomer state known through a de-excitation process from the second excitation state. We are currently applying this method to 229 Th-doped crystals to search for de-excitation vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) light from the first isomeric state. This paper presents the current status of our search.

We perform coincidence measurements between α particles and γ rays from a U source to determine the half-lives of the excited state in a Th nucleus. We first prove that the half-lives of 42.43and 164.53-keV states are consistent with literature values, whereas that of the 97.14-keV state (93(7) ps) deviates from a previously measured value (147(12) ps). The half-lives of 71.83and 163.25-keV states are determined for the first time. Based on the obtained half-lives and the Alaga rule, we estimate the radiative half-life of the low-energy isomeric state (Th) to be 5.0(11)×10 s, which is one of the key parameters for the frequency standard based on Th.

This paper reports on the demonstration of a high-rate energy measurement technique using a thin depletion layer silicon avalanche photodiode (Si-APD). A dedicated amplitude-to-time converter is developed to realize simultaneous energy and timing measurement in a high rate condition. The energy response of the system is systematically studied by using monochromatic X-ray beam with an incident energy ranging from 6 to 33 keV. The obtained energy spectra contain clear peaks and tail distributions. The peak fraction monotonously decreases as the incident photon energy increases. This phenomenon can be explained by considering the distribution of the energy deposit in silicon, which is investigated by using a Monte Carlo simulation.

We propose neutrino mass spectroscopy using Er$^{3+}$:Cs$_2$NaYF$_6$ or :Y$_2$O$_3$ crystal placed in hollow of a Bragg fiber as a target system. Unknown neutrino parameters and properties such as the lightest neutrino mass, Majorana/Dirac distinction, and CP violating phases can be explored by measuring scattered photons ($\gamma$) along the excitation (and fiber) axis by varying Raman trigger ($\gamma_0$) directions, in Er$^{3+}$ de-excitation process from $|e\rangle $ state to $|g\rangle $ state; $|e\rangle \,, | e\rangle + \gamma_0 \rightarrow | g\rangle + \gamma + \nu_i\bar{\nu}_j$, $\nu_i\,, i = 1, 2,3$ being a mass-resolved neutrino state. Rates and required level of QED background rejection are calculated using measured data of the target system.

We report on the operation of co-located 129Xe and 131Xe nuclear spin masers with an external feedback scheme, and discuss the use of 131Xe as a comagnetometer in measurements of the 129Xe spin precession frequency. By applying a correction based on the observed change in the 131Xe frequency, the frequency instability due to magnetic field and cell temperature drifts are eliminated by two orders of magnitude. The frequency precision of 6.2 μHz is obtained for a 104 s averaging time, suggesting the possibility of future improvement to ≈ 1 nHz by improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the observation.

Nuclear resonant excitation and detection of its decay signal for the 26.27-keV level of Hg-201 is demonstrated with high-brilliance synchrotron radiation (SR) and a fast x-ray detector system. This SR-based photonuclear excitation scheme, known as nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) in the field of materials science, is also useful for investigating nuclear properties, such as the half-lives and radiative widths of excited nuclear levels. To date, because of the limited time response of the x-ray detector, the nuclear levels to which this method could be applied have been limited to the one whose half-lives are longer than similar to 1 ns. The faster time response of the NRS measurement makes possible NRS experiments on nuclear levels with much shorter half-lives. We have fabricated an x-ray detector system that has a time resolution of 56 ps and a shorter tail function than that reported previously. With the implemented detector system, the NRS signal of the 26.27-keVstate of Hg-201 could be clearly discriminated from the electronic scattering signal at an elapsed time of 1 ns after the SR pulse. The half-life of the state was determined as 629 +/- 18 ps, which has better precision by a factor of three compared with that reported to date obtained from nuclear decay spectroscopy.

We developed a fast X-ray detector system for nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) experiments. Our system employs silicon avalanche photo-diode (Si-APD) as a fast X-ray sensor. The system is able to acquire both timing and energy of a single X-ray photon simultaneously in a high rate condition, 106 counts per second for one Si-APD. The performance of the system was investigated in SPring-8, a synchrotron radiation facility in Japan. Good time resolution of 120 ps (FWHM) was achieved with a slight tail distribution in the time spectrum by a level of 10-9 at 1 ns apart from the peak. Using this system, we successfully observed the NRS from the 26.27-keV level of mercury-201, which has a half-life of 630(50) ps. We also demonstrated the reduction of background events caused by radioactive decays in a radioactive sample by discriminating photon energy.

We propose a new scheme of producing an intense neutron beam whose yields may exceed those of the existing facilities by a few to several orders of magnitude in the sub-eV region. This scheme employs a MeV gamma beam extracted from circulating quantum ions, which has been recently proposed. The gamma beam is directed to a deuteron target and the photo-disintegration process generates a neutron beam. The calculated neutron energy spectrum is nearly flat down to the neV range, and thus there exists a possibility to utilize a good quality of neutrons especially in sub-eV energy region without using a moderator.

The electric quadrupole moment of the 33Al20 ground state, located at the border of the island of inversion, was obtained using continuous-beam beta-detected nuclear quadrupole resonance (beta-NQR). From the measured quadrupole coupling constant Q = 2.31(4) MHz in an alpha-Al2O3 crystal, a precise value for the electric quadrupole moment is extracted: Qs= 141(3) mb. A comparison with large-scale shell model calculations shows that 33Al has at least 50 the excitation of two neutrons across the N = 20 shell gap. 33Al therefore clearly marks the gradual transition north of the deformed Na and Mg nuclei towards the normal Z>14 isotopes.

SPAN (Spectroscopy of Atomic Neutrino) project aims to determine the absolute neutrino mass. The process we plan to use is a cooperative de-excitation of atoms in a metastable level emitting a neutrino pair associated with a photon. The photon energy spectrum of this process contains information on the absolute mass of neutrino. Key items of this experiment are a rate amplification using macro-coherence in a target medium in case of plural particles emission and an external triggering of the emission in order to scan the spectrum. We have demonstrated the rate amplification in two-photon emission from para-hydrogen gas which was coherently excited to its first vibrationally excited state. The coherence in the medium was generated by irradiating two driving laser pulses. The emission was stimulated by irradiating a mid-infrared laser pulse. The enhancement factor of more than 1018 with respect to the spontaneous emission was achieved. This paper briefly summarizes the results.

The electric quadrupole moment of the Al-33(13)20 ground state, located at the border of the island of inversion, was obtained using continuous-beam beta-detected nuclear quadrupole resonance (beta-NQR). From the measured quadrupole coupling constant nu(Q) = 2.31(4) MHz in an alpha-Al2O3 crystal, a precise value for the electric quadrupole moment is extracted: vertical bar Q(s) (Al-33)vertical bar = 141(3) mb. A comparison with large-scale shell model calculations shows that Al-33 has at least 50% intruder configurations in the ground state wave function, favoring the excitation of two neutrons across the N = 20 shell gap. Al-33 therefore clearly marks the gradual transition north of the deformed Na and Mg nuclei towards the normal Z >= 14 isotopes.

The electric quadrupole moment of the 33Al20 ground state, located at the border of the island of inversion, was obtained using continuous-beam beta-detected nuclear quadrupole resonance (beta-NQR). From the measured quadrupole coupling constant Q = 2.31(4) MHz in an alpha-Al2O3 crystal, a precise value for the electric quadrupole moment is extracted: Qs= 141(3) mb. A comparison with large-scale shell model calculations shows that 33Al has at least 50% intruder configurations in the ground state wave function, favoring the excitation of two neutrons across the N = 20 shell gap. 33Al therefore clearly marks the gradual transition north of the deformed Na and Mg nuclei towards the normal Z>14 isotopes.

The technique of an active nuclear spin maser is adopted in the search for electric dipole moment in a diamagnetic atom 129Xe. In order to reduce systematic uncertainties arising from long-term drifts of the external magnetic field and from the contact interaction between longitudinal polarized Rb atoms and 129Xe spin, a 3He comagnetometer with a double-cell geometry was employed. The remaining shift, which turned out to show some correlation with the cell temperature, was mitigated by stabilizing the cell temperature. As a result, the frequency drift of the 129Xe maser was reduced from 12 mHz to 700 μHz, and the determination precision of frequency of 8.7 nHz was obtained for a 2×104 s measurement time using the double-cell geometry cell.

We search for 129Xe EDM by using an active nuclear spin maser. In this experiment, the amplitude of the maser oscillation signal is one of the most important parameters that eventually determine the frequency precision. The amplitude is proportional to the ratio of the transverse spin relaxation time T 2 to the effective longitudinal spin relaxation time \(T_{1}^{\ast }\). In particular, for a spin maser of 3He (a co-magnetometer) for which \(T_{1}^{\ast }\) typically reaches ∼50 h, a long T 2 is needed. T 2 depends on the homogeneity of the magnetic field which is applied with coils in order to keep the spins under precession. In the present report, we discuss on the design and construction of a new coil which provided a root-mean square (rms) field gradient of less than 5.0 μG/cm. The result of the field measurement has shown that the field gradient in the cell fulfills the target condition \(\sqrt {\langle {(\nabla B_{z})^{2}} \rangle } <5\; \mu \text {G/cm}\), and in fact T 2 of 3He has been measured to be as long as 11,000 s.

A laser cooled heavy atom is one of the candidates to search for the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron due to the enhancement mechanism and its long coherence time. The laser cooled francium (Fr) factory has been constructed to perform the electron EDM search at the Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Tohoku University. The present status of Fr production and the EDM measurement system is presented.