Simulation of nuclear isomer production in laser-induced plasma

Nuclear isomers play essential roles in various fields,including stellar nucleosynthesis,nuclear clocks,nuclear batteries,clean nuclear energy,and-ray lasers.Recent technological advances in high-intensity lasers have made it possible to excite or de-excite nuclear isomers using table-top laser equipment.Utilizing a particle-in-cell code,we investigate the interaction of a laser with a nanowire array and calculate the production rates of the^(73m)Ge(E_(1)=13.3 keV)and^(107m)Ag(E_(1)=93.1 keV)isomers.For^(73m1)Ge,production by Coulomb excitation is found to contribute a peak efficiency of 1.0×10^(19) particles s^(−1)J^(−1),while nuclear excitation by electron capture(NEEC)contributes a peak of 1.65×10^(11)particles s^(−1)J^(−1).These results indicate a high isomeric production ratio,as well as demonstrating the potential for confirming the existence of NEEC,a long-expected but so far experimentally unobserved fundamental process.