# How to excite high spin nuclear state from ground state?

For example, the ground state of a nuclei is $0^+$, and we can excite $1^-$ state with a circular polarized gamma photon, which has a spin angular momentum $1\hbar$. This satisfies the selection rule for E1 (electric dipole) transition.

However, if we want a high spin state, say $2^+$, excited from the ground state, and since we need a photon who carries $2\hbar$ angular momentum to satisfy the angular momentum conservation, what kind of gamma photons is that? I know the decay from $2^+$ to $0^+$ can be an E2 (electric quadruple) transition, but is that quadruple gamma field needed for the same excitation, or we can just use a normal gamma beam?

• Plane waves naturally include all multipole components, with an excitation rate of the order of $(a/\lambda)^\ell$ for a system of size $a$. With optical radiation this is possible (octupole example). Nuclear transitions have a smaller system size, but the wavelength can also be much shorter - at 200 MeV the wavelength is ~1 fm, so as you approach that range quadrupole and higher multipoles become more naturally accessible? – Emilio Pisanty Dec 8 '17 at 23:17