A Unique System for Registering One‐Photon Signals in the Ultraviolet Range from an isomeric 229m Th Nucleus Implanted on Thin SiO 2 /Si Films

Currently, an urgent task related to creating a nuclear frequency standard is the identification of a low-lying nuclear state in the thorium-229 isotope. Herein, a method for measuring the single-photon energy during the decay of an isomeric thorium-229 nucleus implanted in a wide-gap dielectric SiO2 (E-g = 9 eV) is developed. The proposed method utilizes thin silicon oxide layers obtained by thermal oxidization of the pure silica wafers, which allows measurement of the energy of photons in the ultraviolet (UV) range using an electronic spectrometer. The modeling study of electronic state excitation is provided via UV radiation from Kr, Xe, and D resonance discharging lamps. The obtained spectra are analyzed, and a method for determining the UV photon's energy is proposed.