  Pulsars are among the most mysterious astrophysical objects in the Universe
and are believed to be rotating neutron stars formed in supernova explosions.
They are unique testing grounds of dense matter theories and gravitational
physics and also provide links among nuclear physics, particle physics and
General Relativity. Neutron stars may exhibit some of the most extreme and
exotic characteristics that could not be found elsewhere in the Universe. Their
properties are largely determined by the equation of state (EOS) of
neutron-rich matter, which is the chief ingredient in calculating neutron star
structure and properties of related phenomena, such as gravitational wave
emission from deformed pulsars. Presently, the EOS of neutron-rich matter is
still very uncertain mainly due to the poorly known density dependence of the
nuclear symmetry energy especially at supra-saturation densities. Nevertheless,
significant progress has been made recently in constraining the density
dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy mostly at sub-saturation densities
using terrestrial nuclear reactions. While there are still some uncertainties
especially at supra-saturation densities, these constraints could provide
useful information on the limits of the global properties of pulsars and the
gravitational waves to be expected from them. Here we review our recent work on
constraining properties of pulsars and gravitational radiation with data from
terrestrial nuclear laboratories.
