Nuclear Excitation by Two-Photon Electron Transition

2016/12/05 by A. V. Volotka, A. Surzhykov, S. Trotsenko +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Atomic physics #Electron #Electron excitation #Excitation #Ion #Nuclear physics #Nuclear structure #Photon #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Two-photon excitation microscopy #X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis #nucl-th #physics.atom-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.117.243001

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 243001 (2016); Editors' Suggestion · 5 pages, 4 figures

openalex publication_date 2016/12/05 · arxiv created 2016/12/08 · arxiv updated 2016/12/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

A new mechanism of nuclear excitation via two-photon electron transitions (NETP) is proposed and studied theoretically. As a generic example, detailed calculations are performed for the E1E1 1s2s¹S₀→1s²¹S₀ two-photon decay of a He-like ²²⁵Ac⁸⁷⁺ ion with a resonant excitation of the 3/2+ nuclear state with an energy of 40.09(5) keV. The probability for such a two-photon decay via the nuclear excitation is found to be P_NETP=3.5×10^-9 and, thus, is comparable with other mechanisms, such as nuclear excitation by electron transition and by electron capture. The possibility for the experimental observation of the proposed mechanism is thoroughly discussed.

Citations

• Resonance ionization spectroscopy of thorium isotopes–towards a laser spectroscopic identification of the low-lying 7.6 eV isomer of229Th
• Nuclear Polarization Study: New Frontiers for Tests of QED in Heavy Highly Charged Ions
• Nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by fast x-ray emission
• Direct detection of the 229Th nuclear clock transition