Feasibility of Nuclear Plasma Interaction studies with the Activation Technique

Abstract

Electron-mediated nuclear plasma interactions (NPIs), such as Nuclear Excitation by Electron Capture (NEEC) or Transition (NEET), can have a signi cant impact on nuclear cross sections in High Energy Density Plasmas (HEDPs). HEDP environments are found in nuclear weapons tests, National Ignition Facility (NIF) shots and in the cosmos where nucleosynthesis takes place. This thesis explores the impact of NPIs on highly excited nuclei. This impact is understood to be more intense in highly-excited nuclei states in the quasi-contiuum which is populated by nuclear reactions prior to their decay by spontaneous -ray emission.