Possibility of Combining Nuclear Level Pumping in a Plasma with Lasing in a Solid

Nuclear isomers can be used for the storage and release of 'clean' nuclear energy and several triggering schemes have been discussed. Here the possibility to utilize resonance between atomic and nuclear transitions in the form of a hybridization of atomic-nuclear excitation is considered. Several isotopes and specific nuclear levels are identified as candidates for triggering via atomic transitions. A variety of ionization states and atomic-shell configurations arises in a hot plasma generated by short high-power pulses of laser light. The non-radiative conversion of the ionization energy within an atom can be suppressed in the hot plasma surroundings. The time scales of different processes in nuclear, atomic and condensed-matter subsystems are compared and the fast ionization in a solid, X-ray radiance in a plasma, and sample melting and recrystallization may precede nuclear fluorescence. A time scale shorter than 0.1 ns makes this sequence promising for the collective excitation of short-lived modes in a nuclear subsystem.