Spectral Control of an X-Ray L-Edge Transition via a Thin-Film Cavity

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Mar 29;122(12):123608. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.123608.

Abstract

By embedding a thin layer of tantalum in an x-ray cavity, we observe a change in the spectral characteristics of an inner-shell transition of the metal. The interaction between the cavity mode vacuum and the L_{III}-edge transition is enhanced, permitting the observation of the collective Lamb shift, superradiance, and a Fano-like cavity-resonance interference effect. This experiment demonstrates the feasibility of cavity quantum electrodynamics with electronic resonances in the x-ray range with applications to manipulating and probing the electronic structure of condensed matter with high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy in an x-ray cavity setting.