Bringing weak transitions to light

Yu He (), Xiao-Min Tong, Shuyuan Hu, Gergana D. Borisova, Hao Liang, Maximilian Hartmann, Veit Stooß, Chunhai Lyu, Zoltán Harman, Christoph H. Keitel, Kenneth J. Schafer, Mette B. Gaarde, Christian Ott () and Thomas Pfeifer ()
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Yu He: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Xiao-Min Tong: University of Tsukuba
Shuyuan Hu: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Gergana D. Borisova: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Hao Liang: Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme
Maximilian Hartmann: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Veit Stooß: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Chunhai Lyu: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Zoltán Harman: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Christoph H. Keitel: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Kenneth J. Schafer: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Mette B. Gaarde: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Christian Ott: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Thomas Pfeifer: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Weak transitions between quantum states are of fundamental importance for a broad range of phenomena from analytical biochemistry to precision physics, but generally challenge experimental detection. Due to their small cross sections scaling with the absolute square of their transition matrix elements, spectroscopic measurements often fail in particular in the presence of competing background processes. Here we introduce a general concept to break this scaling law and enhance the transition probability by exploiting a stronger laser-coupled pathway to the same excited state. We demonstrate the concept experimentally by attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in helium atoms. The quasi-forbidden transitions from the ground state 1s2 to the weakly coupled doubly excited 2p3d and sp2,4− states are boosted by an order of magnitude. Enhancing single-photon-suppressed transitions can find widespread applicability, from spectral diagnostics of complex molecules in life and chemical sciences to precision spectroscopy of weak transitions in metastable atomic nuclei in the search for new physics.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60701-9

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