Accelerated alpha-decay ... by lasers

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Chris Bradley
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Accelerated alpha-decay ... by lasers

Post by Chris Bradley »

"Accelerated alpha-decay of U-232 isotope achieved by exposure of its aqueous solution with gold nanoparticles to laser radiation"

I've some reservations about what is put in the paper - the assumptions about electric field amplification, the indirect interpretations by Pb-212 decay detections, &c..

What do you guys think?

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1112/1112.6276.pdf

"This means that the activity drops down by a factor of 2 during 5 us, which is the
total duration of all 150 ps laser pulses during exposure. In other words, the half-life of
U-232 in the laser field is 5 us instead of 69 years."
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Richard Hull
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Re: Accelerated alpha-decay ... by lasers

Post by Richard Hull »

Hmmm....

Well the photon flux is very impressive, but the individual photons that might react with the U232 nuclus are still of only a few ev to maybe ten ev. I would imagine a lot of electrons would fly about due to the photo electric effect and compton scattering, but I can't see the nucleus disturbed in all of this.

I can't see a nucleus, even an unstable one vomiting up helium nuclei in large numbers just because the stage lights in the near visible are turned on; putting it in the lime light, as it were.

Interesting math could be done to figure out how many low energy photons were hitting the nucleus based on their concentration in the fluid during the 150ps blast, but they are still just a few ev.

If real, something interesting must be taking place.

A boiling atom theory might be posited where unstable nuclei that are prone to release helium nuclei in natural decay have a holding field about the nucleus that is normally very strong, but boiling energetic helium nuclei at a full range of internal eneries are constantly trying to boil out of the barrier. Every now and then, statistically, one boils out according to its natural decay constant. If this be the case, then you know a number of others are popping up to within but just shy of the boundary. A large enough flux of unit to ten ev photos might just find these "almost there" nuclei and scatter them out of the barrier. Past models of the nucleus have posited for a helium based, shelled nucleus. Just thinking out loud here.

Of course I am looking at it as a photon pellet function here whereas the wave duality might be more in play. Light of specific frequencies (energies) might be more atuned to aid the process in some alpha decay atoms more or less than others. A continuosly variable wavelength laser of great power might probe this issue more thoroughly and discover some cool stuff, like verifying a shelled nucleus.

Again, all this hinges on the effect noted in the paper as being real. Well that is my armchairing for today.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Doug Browning
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Re: Accelerated alpha-decay ... by lasers

Post by Doug Browning »

Instead of trying to promote an alpha particle out by photon(s) absorbtion, how about spinning the nucleus up by a succession of chirped wavelength photons until something gets thrown out.

Then we get the advantage of the summation of the photon energies over an integral of time, which could be lengthy. Chirped wavelengths are needed to match up with the increased rotation rate over time. Most likely would need circular polarization to get consistant summation with the same direction (polarity) of rotation (spin). Being able to integrate the effects of low energy photons over long times might make for a device accessible by hobbyists too. Unless it takes an X-ray laser or such.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Accelerated alpha-decay ... by lasers

Post by Richard Hull »

You thought this up. Do the experiment. Try it out and report back on your success or failure. This is usually the end of such theoretical musings posted here.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Doug Browning
Posts: 156
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:19 pm
Real name: Doug Browning

Re: Accelerated alpha-decay ... by lasers

Post by Doug Browning »

No one would even think of doing an experiment without a thorough theoretical discussion and understanding of the likelihood of success.

Obviously some comments are needed on the quantized spin of the relevant nucleus, with energy levels and their differences enumerated, so that the wavelength range of the light source can be estimated. Most likely these spin levels are among the nuclear isomers listed for the heavy nucleus, although spin effects tend to be small in relation to direct mass effects. Hyperfine isomer states exist? Some appreciation of whether something like a final "Rydberg" -like (nuclear in this case) level exists for nuclear isomers or spin states would be useful to know. Possibly some large X-ray boost is required initially to get near the "Rydberg" -like level, then smaller integrated (circularly polarized) optical pumping could take the nucleus past the stability of the final closely spaced "Rydberg" levels. One might expect that a heavy multi-component nucleus would behave closer to "classical" physics expectations, and that would lead to expectations that the quantized spin levels should be closely spaced (energy-wise) and numerous, so some hope for an optical "handle" perhaps. After all, it only takes sub eV radio waves to manipulate electron spin, not .511 Mev X-rays. So the 1st question here for U is whether a spin "ladder" exists for heavy nuclei.

I know nothing about Uranium, so I am all ears......
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