Measurement of the

We present a measurement of the low-energy (0-60 keV) γ-ray spectrum produced in the α decay of ^{233}U using a dedicated cryogenic magnetic microcalorimeter. The energy resolution of ∼10 eV, together with exceptional gain linearity, allows us to determine the energy of the low-lying isomeric state in ^{229}Th using four complementary evaluation schemes. The most precise scheme determines the ^{229}Th isomer energy to be 8.10(17) eV, corresponding to 153.1(32) nm, superseding in precision previous values based on γ spectroscopy, and agreeing with a recent measurement based on internal conversion electrons. We also measure branching ratios of the relevant excited states to be b_{29}=9.3(6)% and b_{42}<0.7%.

Development of a novel calorimetry setup based on metallic paramagnetic temperature sensors.

We have developed a new micro-fabricated platform for the measurement of the specific heat of low heat capacity mg-sized metallic samples, such as superconductors, down to temperatures of as low as 10 mK. It addresses challenging aspects of setups of this kind such as the thermal contact between the sample and platform, the thermometer resolution, and an addenda heat capacity exceeding that of the samples of interest (typically nJ/K at 20 mK). The setup allows us to use the relaxation method, where the thermal relaxation following a well defined heat pulse is monitored to extract the specific heat. The sample platform (5 × 5 mm2) includes a micro-structured paramagnetic Ag:Er temperature sensor, which is read out by a dc-superconducting quantum interference device via a superconducting flux transformer. In this way, a relative temperature precision of 30 nK/Hz can be reached, while the addenda heat capacity falls well below 0.5 nJ/K for T < 300 mK. A gold-coated mounting area (4.4 × 3 mm2) is included to improve the thermal contact between the sample and platform.

Dephasing of atomic tunneling by nuclear quadrupoles.

Recent experiments revealed a most surprising magnetic-field dependence of coherent echoes in amorphous solids. We show that a novel dephasing mechanism involving nuclear quadrupole moments is the origin of the observed phenomena.