Observation of acoustically induced transparency for gamma-ray photons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method to induce transparency in gamma-ray photons using acoustic oscillations of nuclei, enabling control over gamma-ray interactions in quantum optics applications.

Contribution

It introduces a new technique to achieve gamma-ray transparency through acoustic control of nuclear ensembles, extending optical transparency concepts to high-energy photons.

Findings

Achieved 148-fold suppression of gamma-ray absorption

Demonstrated preservation of spectral and temporal photon characteristics

Paved the way for gamma-ray quantum optics applications

Abstract

We report an observation of a 148-fold suppression of resonant absorption of 14.4-keV photons from exp(-5.2) to exp(-0.2) with preservation of their spectral and temporal characteristics in an ensemble of the resonant two-level Fe-57 nuclei at room temperature. The transparency was induced via collective acoustic oscillations of nuclei. The proposed technique allows extending the concept of induced optical transparency to a hard x-ray/gamma-ray range and paves the way for acoustically controllable interface between x-ray/gamma-ray photons and nuclear ensembles, advancing the field of x-ray/gamma-ray quantum optics.