We demonstrate an approach successfully measuring very small nuclear isomeric excitation cross sections (on the order of 10 to 100 picobarns) via laser–cluster interaction. The interaction between an intense laser pulse and Kr atomic clusters generates a high-temperature and high-density plasma ball in which nuclear excitations are facilitated by inelastic electron scattering. The electron temperature reaches several hundred keV (corresponding to 10 9 K), similar to a stellar environment. The very small nuclear excitation cross sections are extremely challenging to measure otherwise, for example using traditional accelerator-based approaches. Our method opens a broad avenue of measuring small nuclear cross sections and holds promise for advancing understanding of nuclear transition mechanisms and exploring pathways in the evolutionary dynamics of elements within stellar environments.

中文翻译：

---

基于激光的方法测量等离子体中的小核截面


我们展示了一种通过激光-簇相互作用成功测量非常小的核同分异构体激发截面（大约 10 到 100 皮巴恩）的方法。强激光脉冲和 Kr 原子簇之间的相互作用会产生一个高温和高密度的等离子体球，其中非弹性电子散射促进了核激发。电子温度达到几百 keV（相当于 10 9 K），类似于恒星环境。非常小的核激发截面对于其他方式的测量极具挑战性，例如使用传统的基于加速器的方法。我们的方法为测量小核横截面开辟了一条广阔的途径，并有望促进对核转变机制的理解和探索恒星环境中元素演化动力学的途径。