Stopping narrow-band x-ray pulses in nuclear media

TL;DR

This paper proposes a theoretical method to stop and manipulate narrow-band x-ray pulses in nuclear media using a magnetic field control mechanism within a nuclear cavity, enabling storage and phase control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to store and control x-ray pulses in nuclear media via magnetic field-induced interference effects, akin to electromagnetically induced transparency.

Findings

X-ray pulses can be stored for about 100 ns in the nuclear cavity.

Magnetic field switching enables control over pulse group velocity and phase.

The method demonstrates potential for x-ray quantum information processing.

Abstract

A control mechanism for stopping x-ray pulses in resonant nuclear media is investigated theoretically. We show that narrow-band x-ray pulses can be mapped and stored as nuclear coherence in a thin-film planar x-ray cavity with an embedded $^{57}\mathrm{Fe}$ nuclear layer. The pulse is nearly resonant to the 14.4 keV M\"ossbauer transition in the $^{57}\mathrm{Fe}$ nuclei. The role of the control field is played here by a hyperfine magnetic field which induces interference effects reminding of electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that by switching off the control magnetic field, a narrow-band x-ray pulse can be completely stored in the cavity for approximately 100 ns. Additional manipulation of the external magnetic field can lead to both group velocity and phase control of the pulse in the x-ray cavity sample.