Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 17, 2026

Preparing an Isotopically Pure 229Th Ion Beam for Studies of 229mTh
Published on: May 3, 2019
Geiger-Nuttall Law for Nuclei in Strong Electromagnetic Fields
D S Delion1,2,3, S A Ghinescu1,4
1"Horia Hulubei" National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, 30 Reactorului, POB MG-6, RO-077125 Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania.
Abstract:
We investigate the influence of a strong laser electromagnetic field on the α-decay rate by using the Hennenberger frame of reference. We introduce an adimensional parameter D=S_{0}/R_{0}, where R_{0} is the geometrical nuclear radius and S_{0}∼sqrt[I]/ω^{2} is a length parameter depending on the laser intensity I and frequency ω. We show that the barrier penetrability has a strong increase for intensities corresponding to D>D_{crit}=1, due to the fact that the resulting Coulomb potential becomes strongly anisotropic even for spherical nuclei. As a consequence, the contribution of the monopole term increases the barrier penetrability by 2 orders of magnitude, while the total contribution has an effect of 6 orders of magnitude at D∼3D_{crit}. In the case of deformed nuclei, the electromagnetic field increases the penetrability by an additional order of magnitude for a quadrupole deformation β_{2}∼0.3. The influence of the electromagnetic field can be expressed in terms of a shifted Geiger-Nuttal law by a term depending on S_{0} and deformation.
More Related Videos
08:42High-Sensitivity Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at Giga-Pascal Pressures: A New Tool for Probing Electronic and Chemical Properties of Condensed Matter under Extreme Conditions
Published on: October 10, 2014
07:46Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Atomic Nuclei: Larmor Precession Frequency
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Magnetic Moment
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Overview