Research on Intense Pulsed Power for Electromagnetic Radiation
Abstract
Nuclear spin isomers store electromagnetic energy at densities reaching 1.3 GJ/g for shelf lives approaching centuries. One example, Hf-178 has been shown to release such stored energy when triggered by x-ray flashes at modest power levels. In this work trigger pulses were derived from a familiar x-ray source typically used in dental medicine. Subsequent experiments using tunable x-rays from the synchrotron radiation source, SPring-8 showed that the triggering was initiated by photoionization of an electron from the L-shell surrounding the isomeric nucleus. A fraction of 0.2% of those photoionizing events led to triggering of the release of the energy stored by the Hf-178 nuclear spin isomer. The experimental data agrees with predictions of a process termed NEET through which properties of nuclear states are altered by quantum mechanical mixing of the electronic and nuclear wave functions caused by incident electromagnetic radiation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 10, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA397679
Entities
People
- Carl B. Collins
Organizations
- University of Texas at Dallas