Perspectives for photofission studies with highly brilliant, monochromatic γ–ray beams

Abstract

New research facilities like MEGa–Ray (Livermore) or ELI–NP (Bucharest) will provide within the next years (2013–2016) photon beams of unprecedented quality with respect to both photon intensity (total flux ~ 1013 γ/s) and spectral intensity (~ (104–106)/eVs), thus exceeding the performance of existing facilities by severalorders of magnitude. This tremendous progress will be enabled by Compton-backscattering of an intense laser off a high-quality electron beam, in conjunction with novel refractive bremsstrahlung beams focusing γ optics and efficient monochromatization techniques. We envisage to employ these γ beams for photofission studies on extremely deformed nuclear states of actinides, investigating their multiple–humped potential energy landscape in a highly selective way. Transmission resonances in the prompt fission cross section from the (superdeformed) second and (hyperdeformed) third potential minimum will be studied, where the fission decay channel can be expressed as a tunnelling process of these gateway states through the multiple–humped fission barrier.