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    Cascading nuclear excitation of U235 via inelastic electron scattering in laser-irradiated clusters of U235 nuclei

    Qiong Xiao1,*, Yang-Yang Xu1,*, Jun-Hao Cheng1, Liang-Qi Zhang2, Wen-Yu Zhang1, Yong-Sheng Huang2, and Tong-Pu Yu1,†

    • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
    • †Contact author: tongpu@nudt.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. C 112, 064313 – Published 8 December, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/s6r5-5y5v

    Abstract

    Nuclear excitation assisted by lasers holds broad application prospects in precision metrology and nuclear energy, such as nuclear batteries and nuclear clocks. In the present work, the nuclear excitation via inelastic electron scattering (NEIES) mechanism in U235 is investigated by combining the Dirac-Hartree-Fock-Slater method for theoretical calculations with 2D3V particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations for numerical modeling. The excitation cross sections of U235 from the ground state to excited states is evaluated, and an efficient indirect excitation scheme for generating U235 isomers is proposed by first exciting the nuclei from ground-state to high-energy excited states and then decaying to the isomeric state. The calculations show that laser-tuned multichannel NEIES can boost isomeric state accumulation efficiency by 11 orders of magnitude over direct excitation. Additionally, PIC simulations reveal that laser polarization significantly alters high-energy electron distributions. At identical intensity, p-polarized lasers generate seven times more electrons with energies sufficient for exciting U235 to the second excited state (and beyond to the fourth state) compared to s polarization. This work offers a practical and feasible way for efficient isomeric state generation, supporting experimental tests of laser-assisted nuclear excitation.

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