Mechanical Detection of Nuclear Decays.
Phys Rev Lett
; 133(2): 023602, 2024 Jul 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39073927
ABSTRACT
We report the detection of individual nuclear α decays through the mechanical recoil of the entire micron-sized particle in which the decaying nuclei are embedded. Momentum conservation ensures that such measurements are sensitive to any particles emitted in the decay, including neutral particles that may otherwise evade detection with existing techniques. Detection of the minuscule recoil of an object more than 10^{12} times more massive than the emitted particles is made possible by recently developed techniques in levitated optomechanics, which enable high-precision optical control and measurement of the mechanical motion of optically trapped particles. Observation of a change in the net charge of the particle coincident with the recoil allows decays to be identified with background levels at the micro-Becquerel level. The techniques developed here may find use in fields ranging from nuclear forensics to dark matter and neutrino physics.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Phys Rev Lett
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos