Abstract

This work concerns the demonstration of the feasibility of the tuning and perhaps even stimulation of nuclear radiation. Theory [1-3] has indicated that anti-Stokes Raman upconversion of intense but conventional long wavelength sources of radiation produced by scattering from isomeric states of nuclear excitation could lead to significant sources of tunable y-radiation characterized by the natural Mössbauer width of the lines. This would result in lines with sub-Angstrom wavelengths and widths of a few MHz. Further computations [4] have suggested that this type of coherent, as well as a new type of incoherent, optical pumping could even lead to appreciable levels of inversion of the population of nuclear levels that would be capable of supporting the growth of stimulated y-ray intensity. Whether or not these processes can reach threshold depends upon the resolution of basic issues lying in an interdisciplinary region between quantum electronics and nuclear physics that have not been previously addressed. It was the purpose of this work to study these issues experimentally.

© 1984 Optical Society of America