α Decay in extreme laser fields within a deformed Gamow-like model

• Published in: Nuclear science and techniques Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 103 - 116
• Main Authors: Xiao, Qiong, Cheng, Jun-Hao, Xu, Yang-Yang, Zou, You-Tian, Deng, Jun-Gang, Yu, Tong-Pu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.02.2024; Department of Physics,National University of Defense Technology,Changsha 410073,China%College of Science,China Three Gorges University,Yichang 443002,China
• Subjects: Beam Physics; Nuclear Energy; Particle Acceleration and Detection; Particle and Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Half-lives; Deformed Gamow-like model; Extreme laser field; Penetration probability; Decay; α Decay
• ISSN: 1001-8042; 2210-3147
• DOI: 10.1007/s41365-024-01371-y

In this study, the effect of extreme laser fields on the α decay process of ground-state even–even nuclei was investigated. Using the deformed Gamow-like model, we found that state-of-the-art lasers can cause a slight change in the α decay penetration probability of most nuclei. In addition, we studied the correlation between the rate of change of the α decay penetration probability and angle between the directions of the laser electric field and α particle emission for different nuclei. Based on this correlation, the average effect of extreme laser fields on the half-life of many nuclei with arbitrary α particle emission angles was calculated. The calculations show that the laser suppression and promotion effects on the α decay penetration probability of the nuclei population with completely random α particle-emission directions are not completely canceled. The remainder led to a change in the average penetration probability of the nuclei. Furthermore, the possibility of achieving a higher average rate of change by altering the spatial shape of the laser is explored. We conclude that circularly polarized lasers may be helpful in future experiments to achieve a more significant average rate of change of the α decay half-life of the nuclei population.