Quantum dynamics of atomic nuclei
Adriana Palffy (MPI Heidelberg)

More than fifty years ago, it was the invention of the laser that revolutionized atomic physics and laid the foundations for quantum optics and coherent control. With only optical frequencies available, the interaction of coherent light with matter was for a long time mainly restricted to atomic transitions. Only recently have novel high-frequency light sources rendered possible the photo-excitation of low-lying nuclear states opening the new field of nuclear quantum optics and promising substantial progress in the field of metrology. These developments aim to exploit the fact that nuclei are very clean quantum systems, well isolated from the environment and benefiting from long coherence times. The lecture will follow these perspectives at the borderline between nuclear and atomic physics on the one hand side and metrology and quantum optics on the other hand side. First, the present status of the efforts to use the 229Th isomer at approx. 8 eV for a nuclear frequency standard will be discussed. Second, the lecture will follow the developments on the emerging field of x-ray quantum optics and focus on the mutual control of coherent x-ray radiation and nuclear transitions in this new regime of laser-matter interactions.