Enhanced structure-dependent α decay tunneling in deformed odd-odd nuclei via intense two-color laser pulses

Abstract In the present work, we investigate the effect of ultra-intense laser fields on the α decay tunneling of deformed odd-odd nuclei. Calculations performed within the deformed density-dependent cluster model show that, for deformed odd-odd α emitters, the laser-induced variation in the penetration probability separates into distinct branches associated with different valence particle-hole configurations relative to the Z=82 and N=126 shell closures. In contrast to the even-even and odd-A cases, the odd-odd parent nucleus most sensitive to the laser field is not the one with the lowest α decay energy. This indicates that the laser response is governed not only by Qα but also by structural correlations associated with the simultaneously unpaired proton and neutron. We further examine the pulse-averaged response under a two-color laser field. The results show that an optimized two-color field enhances the pulse-averaged laser response for most of the studied nuclei, while highly sensitive nuclei exhibit an effective gain equivalent to increasing the laser intensity by more than one order of magnitude. These findings identify structural determinants of laser-assisted α decay in odd-odd nuclei and provide guidance for selecting candidate nuclei and optimizing laser parameters in future experiments.