Emission of Gamma Rays by X-ray Electron-Nuclear Double Transitions

Abstract

This is a paper about induced gamma emission. The X-ray electron-nuclear double transitions (XENDT) are processes in which a transition effected by an inner atomic electron takes place simultaneously with a nuclear electromagnetic transition. We give expressions for the cross sections of electric and magnetic XENDTs of various multipole orders. We calculate the rate of deexcitation of isomeric nuclei induced by XENDTs for the case when the holes in the atomic shells are produced by incident ionizing electrons and find that the induced nuclear deexcitation rate becomes comparable to the natural decay rate for ionizing fluxes of the order of $10^{14}$ W cm$^{-2}$. We show that for E1 and M1 nuclear processes for which there is a matching between the electron and the nuclear transition energies, the XENDTs can be used to produce pulses of Mössbauer radiation, with yields of the order of $10^4$ Bq mA$^{-1}$.