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Moving towards quantum interactions in the x-ray †regime, new physical systems come into play, e.g., nuclei with low-lying collective states naturally arise as candidates for x-ray quantum optics studies. The coupling of nuclei with the radiation field is however significantly weaker than for atoms. For low x-ray intensities, this can lead to the delocalized excitation of a single nucleus. We show how such an excitation offers the possibility of phase-sensitive storage and pi phase modulation for single hard x-ray photons in a nuclear forward scattering setup. A brilliant coherent source as the x-ray free electron laser, on the other hand, may induce stronger excitation and potentially produce an electronic plasma that facilitates the coupling of nuclear transitions to the atomic shell. The interplay between nuclear excitation via photons and electrons is investigated for the case of isomer depletion, i.e., the depopulation of long-lived nuclear states.
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