“This would then be the first time human control would be exerted over nuclear levels,” said Peter Beiersdorfer, an LLNL physicist and co-author of a paper that appears in the April 6 issue of Physical Review Letters. “This only works if the laser is tuned to exactly the correct energy.”
The next step will be to use a laser or a synchrotron tuned to the exact energy of the spacing between the two levels and observe the transition from the ground state to the isomeric state.
Once laser excitation has proven possible, helping an excited level decay (and thus give off energy) can be tackled. “But for building a more precise clock than we have today, or building a quantum computer, excitation may be all that’s needed,” Beiersdofer said.
This could lead to new science and technology breakthroughs. Among them are: a quantum many-body study; a clock with unparallel precision for general relativity tests; a superb qubit (a quantum bit) for quantum computing; testing the effects of the chemical environment on nuclear decay rates
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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