Laser radiation-induced acceleration of forbidden captures of orbital electrons by nuclei

The effect of linearly polarized laser radiation on the rate of the capture of atomic electrons by nuclei has been investigated. The allowed capture of s-state bound electrons from (inner) $K$, $L$, and $M$ shells can only be weakened by the external electric field due to the shift of the maximum of the wavefunction of the bound electron with respect to the nucleus; at the same time, the wavefunctions of electrons in states with a nonzero orbital angular momentum on the nucleus can increase. The probability of various forbidden unique electron captures involving these states increases correspondingly. The problem has been examined in the simple Slater approximation. The calculations indicate that laser fields with the amplitude larger than the atomic value can significantly accelerate the first forbidden capture of p electrons, whereas laser fields with the amplitude smaller than the atomic value can significantly accelerate the second forbidden capture of d electrons.