Overcoming photobleaching in imaging of single barium atoms in a solid xenon matrix

Neutrinoless double beta decay is one of the most sensitive probes for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. One of the isotopes under investigation is <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:mmultiscripts><a:mi>Xe</a:mi><a:mprescripts/><a:none/><a:mn>136</a:mn></a:mmultiscripts></a:math>, which would double beta decay into <b:math xmlns:b="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><b:mmultiscripts><b:mi>Ba</b:mi><b:mprescripts/><b:none/><b:mn>136</b:mn></b:mmultiscripts></b:math>. Detecting the single <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><c:mmultiscripts><c:mi>Ba</c:mi><c:mprescripts/><c:none/><c:mn>136</c:mn></c:mmultiscripts></c:math> daughter provides a sort of ultimate tool in the discrimination against backgrounds. Previous work demonstrated the ability to perform single atom imaging of Ba atoms in a single-vacancy site of a solid xenon matrix. In this paper, the effort to identify signal from individual barium atoms is extended to Ba atoms in a hexa-vacancy site in the matrix and is achieved despite increased photobleaching in this site. Abrupt fluorescence turn-off of a single Ba atom is also observed. Significant recovery of fluorescence signal lost through photobleaching is demonstrated upon annealing of Ba deposits in the Xe ice. Following annealing, it is observed that Ba atoms in the hexa-vacancy site exhibit antibleaching while Ba atoms in the tetra-vacancy site exhibit bleaching. This may be evidence for a matrix site transfer upon laser excitation. Our findings offer a path of continued research toward tagging of Ba daughters in all significant sites in solid xenon. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

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Journal
Physical Review Research
Published
2024-11-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.6.043193
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.01

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article

Overcoming photobleaching in imaging of single barium atoms in a solid xenon matrix

T. Walton, D. Gallacher, Evan Angelico, V. Belov et al.
3 citations
Physical Review Research
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
1.01
article

Overcoming photobleaching in imaging of single barium atoms in a solid xenon matrix

T. Walton, D. Gallacher, Evan Angelico, V. Belov, S. C. Nowicki, J. C. Nzobadila Ondze, T.I. Totev, S. Rescia, E. T. Chambers, B. Mong, Y. G. Wang, D. Chernyak, Liangjian Wen, R. Collister, C. Malbrunot, X. E. Ngwadla, A. Iverson, Johan Söderström, C. A. Hardy, M. Cvitan, M. Vidal Marono, D. Cesmecioglu, H. W. Lewis, Trilochan Bhatta, R. MacLellan, S. Sangiorgio, M. Walent, S. Majidi, S. Al Kharusi, Anne Nolan, E. Caden, E. Hein, D. K. Keblbeck, G. Richardson, J. Bane, J. Brodsky, O. A. Tyuka, B. Chana, W. Gillis, A. Kuchenkov, W. Wang, R. Gornea, A. Tidball, Stephen E. Schwartz, C. Licciardi, A. Atencio, Meng Yu, Xilei Sun, S. Hedges, P. A. Breur, J. Masbou, B. Eckert, K. McMichael, S. Triambak, B. T. Foust, R. Saldanha, I. J. Arnquist, Andréa Perna, Haiwen Xu, L. Yang, G. Giacomini, G. F. Cao, A. Pocar, E. van Bruggen, R. Elmansali, T. Daniels, F. Spadoni, A. K. Soma, S. Thibado, C. R. Natzke, I. Kotov, J. L. Orrell, T. Tsang, C.T. Overman, H. W. Wang, R. R. Ross, E. P. Bernard, E. W. Hoppe, A. C. Larson, A. Lennarz, R. G. DeVoe, W. Fairbank, T. Brunner, M. J. Dolinski, K. G. Leach, Q. Daniel Wang, Yanyan Fu, Michael Watts, K. Wamba, K. Ni, M. Yvaine, J. D. Holt, A. Amy, J Stanley, L. Darroch, G.S. Ortega, M. K. Moe, R. Lindsay, H. Peltz Smalley, Arthur Anker, A. A. Kwiatkowski, A. Brown, D. Fairbank, S. Wilde, O. Zeldovich, David C. Moore, D. Ray, H. Rasiwala, M. Elbeltagi, M. B. Latif, M. Medina Peregrina, John G. Breslin, Z. Li, K.S. Kumar, Guowei Li, C. Chambers, Christopher D. Taylor, D. S. Leonard, N. Gallice, M. Chiu, L. Si, S. J. Sekula, V. Radeka, N. Fatemighomi, L. Pagani, M. Worcester, V. Stekhanov, A. Odian, P.C. Rowson, A. Karelin, G. Gratta, U. Wichoski, E. Raguzin, C. Gingras, A. E. Bolotnikov, M. L. di Vacri, M Wehrfritz
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Neutrinoless double beta decay is one of the most sensitive probes for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. One of the isotopes under investigation is <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:mmultiscripts><a:mi>Xe</a:mi><a:mprescripts/><a:none/><a:mn>136</a:mn></a:mmultiscripts></a:math>, which would double beta decay into <b:math xmlns:b="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><b:mmultiscripts><b:mi>Ba</b:mi><b:mprescripts/><b:none/><b:mn>136</b:mn></b:mmultiscripts></b:math>. Detecting the single <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><c:mmultiscripts><c:mi>Ba</c:mi><c:mprescripts/><c:none/><c:mn>136</c:mn></c:mmultiscripts></c:math> daughter provides a sort of ultimate tool in the discrimination against backgrounds. Previous work demonstrated the ability to perform single atom imaging of Ba atoms in a single-vacancy site of a solid xenon matrix. In this paper, the effort to identify signal from individual barium atoms is extended to Ba atoms in a hexa-vacancy site in the matrix and is achieved despite increased photobleaching in this site. Abrupt fluorescence turn-off of a single Ba atom is also observed. Significant recovery of fluorescence signal lost through photobleaching is demonstrated upon annealing of Ba deposits in the Xe ice. Following annealing, it is observed that Ba atoms in the hexa-vacancy site exhibit antibleaching while Ba atoms in the tetra-vacancy site exhibit bleaching. This may be evidence for a matrix site transfer upon laser excitation. Our findings offer a path of continued research toward tagging of Ba daughters in all significant sites in solid xenon. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Physical Review ResearchVol. 6(4)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US), University of Kentucky (US), University of North Carolina Wilmington (US), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (US), Colorado School of Mines (US), University of Alabama (US), University of South Dakota (US), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Brookhaven National Laboratory (US), Queen's University (CA), Kurchatov Institute (RU), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US), University of California System (US), Yale University (US), University of California San Diego (US), McGill University (CA), Laurentian University (CA), Carleton University (CA), Drexel University (US), University of Windsor (CA), University of the Western Cape (ZA), Colorado State University (US), Skyline College (US), Stanford University (US), Nantes Université (FR)
National Science Foundation, Canada Foundation for Innovation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute for Basic Science, Canada First Research Excellence Fund, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, National Research Council Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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Openalex Percentile: Top 23%
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
1.01
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