LASER-DRIVEN INVERSE ELECTRONIC BRIDGE PROCESS - AN OPTICAL TOOL FOR DETERMINING LOW-ENERGY SEPARATION OF NEARBY NUCLEAR-STATES

An optical method to determine the low-energy separation (1+/-4 eV) of nearby nuclear states of Th-229 is presented. It is shown that the Co ulomb held of a deexciting electron of the Th-229 atom can cause trans ition between the near-lying nuclear states if the atom emits a photon with an energy equal to the difference between the energies of the el ectron and nuclear transitions. It is also predicted that the process can be enhanced through induced emission by applying a laser of resona nt photon energy. The transition probabilities per unit time of the sp ontaneous and the laser induced processes are given.