Low energy nuclear processes in hot dense femtosecond plasma

Summary form only given. The temperature of hot electrons achieved in the dense plasma at moderate intensities of 10/sup 16/-10/sup 17/ W/cm/sup 2/ has been proved to be enough to provide excitation of low energy nuclear stable isomers. Besides promising applications of this process such as quantitative spectroscopy of low energy levels in metastable nuclear isomers, nuclear isotope separation, the ultimate goal of G-lasing using metastable isomers seems feasible. Between different main mechanisms responsible for such excitation - photoexcitation by plasma X-rays, excitation through inelastic electron scattering and inverse internal electronic conversion, the first one has the highest cross section in hot dense femtosecond laser plasma. We discuss the impact of nuclear line broadening in plasma (due to ion-ion collisions, Doppler effect, Zeeman broadening by plasma self-generated magnetic field, Stark broadening, etc.) on the total number of excited nuclear isomers.