Hannover 2020 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 20: Laser plasma and laser applications 2

P 20.7: Talk

Thursday, March 12, 2020, 15:45–16:00, b302

X-ray assisted nuclear excitation by electron capture in plasmas generated by optical lasers — •Yuanbin Wu, Christoph H. Keitel, and Adriana Pálffy — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1,D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany

Nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC) is a resonant process in which electron recombination into an ion occurs with the simultaneous excitation of the nucleus. In this work we investigate theoretically x-ray assisted NEEC into inner-shell atomic holes in plasmas generated by strong optical lasers. This scenario involves intense x-ray radiation from an x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) to additionally produce inner-shell holes in the plasma ions, into which NEEC may occur. As a case study we consider the 4.85-keV transition starting from the 2.4 MeV ^93mMo isomer that can release the stored excitation energy.

We find that, already at few hundred eV plasma temperature, the generation of inner-shell holes can allow optimal conditions for NEEC, otherwise reached for plasmas in thermodynamical equilibrium only at few keV [1]. The combination of XFELs and optical lasers is also advantageous as NEEC rates can be maximized at plasma temperatures where the photoexcitation rate remains low. Considering the combination of mJ-class optical laser and XFEL, the NEEC excitation number can reach ∼ 1 depleted isomer per second and is competitive with scenarios recently envisaged at petawatt-class lasers [2].

[1] Y. Wu, C. H. Keitel, and A. Pálffy, arXiv:1910.05326.

[2] Y. Wu, J. Gunst, C. H. Keitel, and A. Pálffy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 052504 (2018).