Nuclear Signatures in High-Order Harmonic Generation from Laser-Driven Muonic Atoms

High-order harmonic generation from muonic atoms exposed to intense laser fields is considered. Our particular interest lies in effects arising from the finite nuclear mass and size. We numerically perform a fully quantum mechanical treatment of the muon-nucleus dynamics by employing modified soft-core and hard-core potentials. It is shown that the position of the high-energy cutoff of the harmonic spectrum depends on the nuclear mass, while the height of the spectral plateau is sensitive to the nuclear radius. We also demonstrate that γ-ray harmonics can be generated from muonic atoms in ultrastrong VUV fields, which have potential to induce photonuclear reactions.