Lasers as a bridge between atomic and nuclear physics

This paper reviews the application of visible and ultraviolet laser radiation to several topics in low-energy nuclear physics. We consider laser-induced nuclear anti-Stokes transitions, laser-assisted and laser-induced internal conversion, and the electron bridge and inverse electron bridge mechanisms as tools for deexcitation and excitation of low-lying nuclear isomeric states. A study of the anomalously low-lying nuclear isomeric states (in the case of the ²²⁹Th nucleus) is presented in detail.