Dynamical polarization control in X-ray quantum optics

Abstract

Whenever working with polarized light, there might be situations, in which another than the given polarization is required. In the optical regime, there exist wave plates, which are able to convert polarizations. The working principle of such wave plates is based on relative differences of refractive indices. Since it is hard to achieve sufficiently different refractive indices for X-rays, it is diffcult to mimic this approach in the X-ray regime. In this thesis, we propose a new approach to produce the necessary phase shift in the X-ray regime, by employing nuclear forward scattering. The suggested setup has the advantage, that the polarization can be dynamically controlled. First, we discuss the working principle of our new approach. This includes analytical explanations as well as numerical simulations and optimization with the python-package pynuss. Subsequently, further applications such as circular polarization filters, λ/2 -wave plates, fast light switches and precise displacement measurements will be presented. We conclude this thesis by a comparison with existing optical elements