On the stimulation of the de-excitation of nuclear isomers in plasma of a high-current electric discharge

The prospects of stimulated de-excitation of nuclear isomers (SDENI) with a trigger transition energy ∆E up to ∼ 1 keV in a plasma of a high-current electric discharge (HCED) with an electron temperature θ ∼ ∆E are discussed. An estimate of the probability of the SDENI process in plasma by the mechanism of nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC) is obtained. Themost promising for the SDENI study are isomers 229mTh (∆E ≈ 8 eV), 235mU (∆E = 76 eV), 110mAg (∆E = 1128 eV). To create an energy source most promising isomer is 186m Re (∆E is unknown) with a half-life of 2 × 105y, for which stimulated de-excitation in the laser plasma had beenalready observed at θ ∼ 1 keV.