# Effective widths and integrated cross sections for two-photon transitions in 178Hf

(23 February 1999)  

The possibility to produce an increase of the activity of an isomeric sample by irradiating the sample with a laser pulse and the x-ray pumping of nuclear transitions have been discussed some time ago.  We have studied recently the rates for two-photon transitions from isomeric states to given final states, induced by an incident flux of photons having a continuous energy distribution. ,

In this work we have calculated integrated cross sections for two-photon processes in <sup>178</sup>Hf. The calculations are based on tabulated nuclear data.  We have assumed that the nucleus is initially in a state $`|i`$ of energy $`E_i`$ and spin $`J_i`$, which in general is different from the isomeric state. By absorbing an incident photon of energy $`E_{ni}`$, the nucleus makes a transition to a higher intermediate state $`|n`$ of energy $`E_n`$, spin $`J_n`$ and half-life $`t_n`$. The state $`|n`$ then decays into a lower state $`|l`$ of energy $`E_l`$ and spin $`J_l`$ by the emission of a gamma-ray photon having the energy $`E_{nl}`$ or by internal conversion. In some cases the state $`|l`$ may be situated above the initial state $`|i`$, and in these cases the transition $`|n|l`$ is followed by further gamma-ray transitions to lower states.

We have analyzed two-photon transitions in <sup>178</sup>Hf for which there is an intermediate state $`|n`$ of known energy $`E_n`$, spin $`J_n`$ and half-life $`t_n`$, for which the intermediate state is connected by a known gamma-ray transition to the initial state $`|i`$ and to a lower state $`|l`$, and for which the relative intensities $`R_{ni},R_{nl},R_{nl^{}}`$ of the transitions to lower states are known.

The cross sections are summed over all lower states $`|l`$ which are possible for a given pair of initial and intermediate states $`|i,|n`$. The integrated cross sections are calculated as 

$$\sigma _{int}^{tot}=\frac{2J_n+1}{2J_i+1}\frac{\pi ^2c^2\mathrm{}^2}{E_{ni}^2}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{eff}^{tot},$$
(1)   
where

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{eff}^{tot}=\underset{li}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{eff},$$
(2)   
and where $`E_{ni}=E_nE_i`$. The quantity $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{eff}`$ is the effective width of the two-photon transition,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{eff}=F_R\mathrm{ln}2/t_n,$$
(3)   
where $`t_n`$ is the half-life of the intermediate state $`|n`$, and the dimensionless quantity $`F_R`$ has the expression

$$F_R=\frac{(1+\alpha _{nl})R_{ni}R_{nl}}{\left[(1+\alpha _{ni})R_{ni}+(1+\alpha _{nl})R_{nl}+_l^{}(1+\alpha _{nl^{}})R_{nl^{}}\right]^2}.$$
(4)   
In Eq. (4), $`\alpha _{ni},\alpha _{nl},\alpha _{nl^{}}`$ are the internal conversion coefficients for the transitions $`|n|i,|n|l,|n|l^{},l^{}i,l,`$.

The effective widths $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{eff}^{tot}`$ and the integrated cross sections $`\sigma _{int}^{tot}`$ are given in Table I. The multipolarities of the transitions are given in columns $`ni`$ and $`nl`$. The largest integrated cross section found among the listed 24 two-photon processes in <sup>178</sup>Hf has the value $`1.65\times 10^{26}`$ cm<sup>2</sup> keV. If the initial state is the isomeric state at $`E_i`$=2446 keV, the nuclear parameters required for the calculation of the two-photon integrated cross section are known at present only for the intermediate state at $`E_n`$=2573 keV.