McKinsey D N, Lippincott W H, Nikkel J A, Rellergert W G
Department of Physics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208120, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Sep 9;95(11):111101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.111101. Epub 2005 Sep 8.
We describe an approach to detecting ionizing radiation that combines the special properties of superfluid helium with the sensitivity of quantum optics techniques. Ionization in liquid helium results in the copious production of metastable He2 molecules, which can be detected by laser-induced fluorescence. Each molecule can be probed many times using a cycling transition, resulting in the detection of individual molecules with high signal to noise. This technique could be used to detect neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, and ultracold neutrons, and to image superfluid flow in liquid 4He.
我们描述了一种检测电离辐射的方法，该方法将超流氦的特殊性质与量子光学技术的灵敏度相结合。液氦中的电离会大量产生亚稳态He2分子，这些分子可通过激光诱导荧光进行检测。每个分子可以使用循环跃迁进行多次探测，从而实现高信噪比的单个分子检测。该技术可用于检测中微子、弱相互作用大质量粒子和超冷中子，以及对4He液体中的超流进行成像。
