Laser-induced nonresonant nuclear excitation in muonic atoms

Coherent nuclear excitation in strongly laser-driven muonic atoms is calculated. The nuclear transition is caused by the time-dependent Coulomb field of the oscillating charge density of the bound muon. A closed-form analytical expression for electric multipole transitions is derived and applied to various isotopes; the excitation probabilities are in general very small. We compare the process with other nuclear excitation mechanisms through coupling with atomic shells and discuss the prospects to observe it in experiment.