Abstract

Reviewed here are studies of the general problem of multiphoton processes which might occur at the nuclear level when one of the photons belongs to an intense radiation field from a laser at optical frequencies. It has been predicted that sufficient laser intensities could stimulate a component step involving the nuclear radiations. Transition probabilities have been found which relate the probabilities for γ-ray transitions induced by the optical radiation to the Breit-Wigner cross sections for the absorption or emission of single γ-photons. The most important results have concerned the isolation of the multiphoton Mössbauer channel which preserves the natural linewidth of the process in solid media. This channel was found to have a relative weight comparable to the conventional Debeye-Waller factor for the transition. In emission the induced processes of both Anti-Stokes Raman scattering and two-photon emission have been considered and both are found to lead to the generation of tunable γ-radiation. Transition probabilities are calculated to be large enough to support the production of usable spectral sources that could be tuned over a range of γ-ray energies approximately a thousand times greater than can be realized by conventional Mössbauer techniques. Analogous possibilities for the detection and tuning of nuclear reactions induced by intense optical fields also have been considered in this review.

© 1982 Optical Society of America