Proposal for a Nuclear Light Source

Abstract

The paper considers a principal possibility of creating a nuclear light source of the vacuum ultra violet (VUV) range based on the $^{229}$Th nucleus. This nuclear light source can help to solve two main problems -- excitation of the low-lying $^{229m}$Th isomer and precision measurement of the nuclear isomeric transition energy. The Thorium nuclear light source is based on the nuclei implanted in a thin dielectric film with a large bandgap. While passing an electric current through the sample, the $^{229}$Th nuclei are excited to the low energy isomeric state $3/2^+(8.19\pm0.12$ eV) in the process of inelastic scattering of conduction electrons. The subsequent spontaneous decay of $^{229m}$Th is followed by the emission of $\gamma$ quanta in the VUV range. The luminosity of the Thorium nuclear light source is approximately $10^5$~photons/s per 1~A of current and per 1~ng of $^{229}$Th. The suggested scheme to obtain $\gamma$ radiation from the $^{229m}$Th isomer can be considered as a kind of nuclear analogue of the optical radiation from the usual metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) junction.