1. Collective nuclear excitation dynamics in mono-modal x-ray waveguides
- Author
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Lohse, Leon M., Andrejić, Petar, Velten, Sven, Vassholz, Malte, Neuhaus, Charlotte, Negi, Ankita, Panchwanee, Anjali, Sergeev, Ilya, Pálffy, Adriana, Salditt, Tim, and Röhlsberger, Ralf
- Subjects
Quantum Physics ,Physics - Accelerator Physics ,Physics - Optics - Abstract
Ensembles of identical atoms exhibit peculiar collective properties in their interaction with radiation depending on geometry and environment where they are embedded in. A remarkably clean and versatile platform to study collective effects in resonant light scattering are M\"ossbauer nuclei placed in planar x-ray waveguides. Here we conceive and demonstrate experimentally distinct temporal emission characteristics in these systems, ranging from a tunable accelerated exponential decay all the way to a pronounced oscillatory emission pattern, depending on the waveguide geometry and mode of excitation. The observed temporal and spatial emission characteristics of the collectively excited nuclear state in the waveguide -- the nuclear exciton -- are well reproduced by a unified theoretical model. Our findings pave the way for applications ranging from fundamental studies of cooperative emission at hard x-ray frequencies up to new methods of narrowband x-ray control via the engineering of collective radiation patterns.
- Published
- 2024