(1888PressRelease)
July 07, 2010 - McPherson, Inc. (Chelmsford, MA USA,) a manufacturer of vacuum compatible instruments for measuring wavelengths of light, is contracted to provide a spectral test and measurement system working in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength region. The spectral measurement system is tailored to the specific requirements of researchers at the Vienna University Atomic and Subatomic Physics program. The radio isotope 229Thorium is of particular interest to the Viennese researchers due to its low-energy nuclear excited state. The research aims to identify the "optical nuclear transition" and make it usable for fundamental investigations and applications.
Experimental work will occur at deep vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelengths. The McPherson system helps characterize and document spectral absorbance, emission and lifetime characteristics of Thorium doped crystals and related samples in the demanding VUV regime. The instrumentation includes all-reflective beam delivery optics for work in the 115 to 380nm wavelength region, vacuum spectrometer with sensitive direct-detection CCD array and specialize solar-blind, high-gain detector for direct detection of the expected, very faint luminescence.
August 2010 is the planned completion date for THORIUM's offices and dedicated laboratory space. Then the THORIUM team's START-Program award winning Physicist Thorsten Schumm can search for the transition in 229Thorium with the McPherson system. This work takes place at the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics, Vienna University of Technology.
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