Is it Possible for Nuclei to Emit Visible Photons?

[cragar]

Can a nucleus in an atom emit visible light . I am aware that the nucleus has discrete energy levels,
And it seems that they only emit gamma rays, but could we make them emit visible photons.
I have just begun to study very basic nuclear physics in my classes. And i am taking EM theory right now to give you an idea of my background. And input will be much appreciated.

 

[mathman]

The photons emitted by nuclei correspond to differences in energy levels between states. We have to take them as they are. Visible photons result from electron state transitions.

 

[Astronuc]

Can a nucleus in an atom emit visible light . I am aware that the nucleus has discrete energy levels,
And it seems that they only emit gamma rays, but could we make them emit visible photons.
I have just begun to study very basic nuclear physics in my classes. And i am taking EM theory right now to give you an idea of my background. And input will be much appreciated.

Please review the energies of photons in the visible range. As mathman indicated, visible light comes from electron transitions, but more importantly, from the outermost electrons.

I recommend looking at the electron binding energies for inner electrons, and also the groups of emissions of Hydrogen lines.

Consider that the nuclear energy levels are on the order of keV/MeV.

 

[cragar]

thanks for the responses

 

[bcrowell]

I think the previous answers have been a little oversimplified. Just because the nuclear energy scale is generally 10^6 times greater than the energy of a visible light photon, that doesn't mean you can't have states very close together in energy. Odd-odd nuclei generally have a lot of nearly degenerate states near the ground state. You can easily get electromagnetic transitions in the keV range, and I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be some random cases where the energy was an eV. The real reason you won't see such low energy photons coming out is internal conversion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_conversion If you wanted to see an eV photon emitted from a nucleus, you'd probably want to look at an odd-odd nucleus with a low atomic number (IC increases with Z), and you'd have to look for an extremely small branching ratio for non-IC decay. There would also be competition from beta decay, since the partial half-life for electromagnetic decay would be extremely long, and odd-odd nuclei are all beta-unstable (except for 2H).

 

[cragar]

interesting I'm glad you responded.