Nuclear fission in intense laser fields

Abstract

Rapid-advancing intense laser technologies enable the possibility of a direct laser-nucleus coupling. In this paper the effect of intense laser fields on a series of nuclear fission processes, including proton emission, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ decay, and cluster decay, is theoretically studied with the help of nuclear double folding potentials. The results show that the half-lives of these decay processes can be modified by non-negligible amounts, for example on the order of 0.01 or 0.1% in intense laser fields available in the forthcoming years. In addition to numerical results, an approximate analytical formula is derived to connect the laser-induced modification to the decay half-life and the decay energy.

Topics & Concepts