Dynamical aspects of induced α-decay process under X-ray laser field

Abstract

Laser-induced nuclear phenomena are progressing rapidly with significant advancements in the field of controlled nuclear reactions. This study introduces a novel cross-disciplinary extension of laser-matter interaction theories to nuclear decay processes, opening up possibilities for controlled manipulation of nuclear lifetimes using high-intensity laser environments. We have investigated X-ray laser-assisted α-particle tunneling in even-even and doubly-odd heavy radioactive nuclei using a Floquet-Volkoff (FV) formalism for multiphoton-induced α-decay. This approach is grounded in a microscopic phenomenological framework that incorporates the Skyrme force model of α-nucleus potential within the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. Our results demonstrate that emission of the α-particle is influenced by multiphoton absorption to a considerable extent. The nuclei with larger effective charge (Z_eff) and smaller disintegration energies (Q_α-value) are found to be more sensitive to such perturbations. It is found that the logarithmic values of relative enhancement in the penetration probabilities (log₁₀ΔP_rel-values) can be effectively parameterized as a function of Z_eff. Furthermore, the relative enhancement in penetration probability (ΔP_rel) can be directly related to the change in α-decay half-lives i.e. ΔT_rel-values.