Charged particle emissions in high-frequency alternative electric fields

Abstract

Proton emission, α decay, and cluster radioactivity play an important role in nuclear physics. We show that high-frequency alternative electric fields could deform Coulomb barriers that trap the charged particle, and raise the possibility of speeding up charged particle emissions. They could also cause anisotropic effects in charged particle emissions, and introduce additional terms in the Geiger–Nuttall laws. Our study may further suggest that, for proton emitters like 166Ir, when the electric field is strong, the dominant decay mode could be changed from α decay to proton emission. As high-frequency alternative electric fields correspond to high-frequency laser fields in the dipole approximation, our study could be viewed as a benchmark for future theoretical studies of charged particle emissions in realistic laser fields.