A total of six activities will be offered, of which each student may participate in five.
Activity 1 - Gamma-Ray Tracking Energy Array - GRETA
Convener: Heather Crawford (Nuclear Structure Group)
Gamma-ray tracking arrays, such as GRETINA/GRETA and AGATA in Europe represent the next generation of gamma-ray spectroscopy. These detector systems make use of highly-segmented HPGe crystals and advanced pulse shape analysis to locate individual gamma-ray interactions to within several mm3, and then track gamma-rays through the most likely scatter sequences to decide if they are good events or Compton background.
This Hands-on activity will explore gamma-ray tracking including (a) operating the GRETA systems to record data from a gamma-ray calibration source, (b) exploring properties of gamma-ray scattering and correlations, and (c) looking at real detector signals and data to explore signal decomposition.
Activity 2 - Tuning the VENUS Ion Source
Convener: Janilee Benitez (ECR Ion Source group)
ECR type ion sources are widely appreciated as cyclotron injectors due to their versatile production capabilities. The operation of these instruments involves understanding how varying several different parameters of the source affects characteristics of the plasma from which ions are extracted. Students will have the opportunity to tune the 3rd Generation VENUS ECR Ion Source for producing beams of specific ion species and charge states. Students will also conduct studies on how source parameters affect the production of Bremsstralung Radiation, x-rays produced by collisions of electrons with the interior walls of the plasma chamber.
Activity 3 - Finding a superheavy nucleus
Convener: Marilena Lykiardopoulou (Heavy Element group)
SuperHeavy Elements (SHE) have very small cross sections making them very difficult to produce and detect. As a result, in SHE experiments in Berkeley Lab we get TB of data to maybe find one such event for the heaviest elements in the periodic table. In addition, given these large data rates and the low cross sections, we have to consider the possibility that this event is random and what the probability of having a random event is.
In this activity, you will explore how to work with SHE datasets and how to find SHE events. More specifically, we will look at previous data taken at Berkeley Lab, go through the analysis steps, derive the interesting events, learn how to calculate random rates and who knows, maybe we will find a superheavy nucleus!
Activity 4 - Mass spectrometry with FIONA
Convener: Rodney Orford (Heavy Element group)
The FIONA (For the Identification Of Nuclide A) mass spectrometer was constructed to unambiguously measure the mass number of heavy and superheavy isotopes that are produced at the 88-inch cyclotron. FIONA is a stopped-beam apparatus consisting of a gas catcher, a cooler-buncher, a drift-tube accelerator, and a trochoidal spectrometer for mass number separation. It has a mass resolution of M/deltaM = 300, sufficient to resolve neighbouring isotopes or molecules that are extracted from the buncher. In this hands-on activity, participants will use FIONA to identify and characterize the mass number of the molecules formed in the system from an offline source of 216Po ions.
Activity 5 - 3D Radiation Imaging and Source Localization
Convener: Joanna Szornel (Applied Nuclear Physics program)
The Applied Nuclear Physics program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory specializes in radiation detection and real-time 3D radiation imaging. Our cutting-edge systems are designed to localize, identify, and quantify radioactive sources in complex environments using radiation measurements in combination with contextual information gathered by additional sensors (ie: lidar, GPS, Inertial Measurement Units, cameras). Students will have the opportunity to collect data using one of our available multi-sensor detection systems, gaining hands-on experience with advanced instrumentation and robotics software. They will be introduced to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) techniques used to produce 3D maps of the measurement environment and to reconstruct the pose and orientation of the multi-sensor system as it moves through the scene. Students will then learn how radiation data is processed in conjunction with contextual sensor data using custom ray-tracing algorithms and advanced methods such as computer vision to generate 3D visualizations that pinpoint radiation "hot spots." In this activity, students will use techniques that rely on the physics of radiation interactions and reconstructed 3D environments to locate and quantify gamma-ray radiation sources while learning about many of the cutting-edge computational techniques used in modern radiological imaging. Experience coding in Python and familiarity with Jupyter notebooks will be useful in this activity but are not required.
Activity 6 - Nuclear Physics Target Fabrication
Convener: Andrew Voyles (Nuclear Data Program)
Target fabrication is a fundamental art, responsible for transforming common (and not so common!) materials into a range of forms, to meet experimental needs for nuclear science. These targets have a range of applications, from supporting basic science measurements, to production of large-scale quantities of radioisotopes for medical applications, to nuclear data measurements supporting a range of application areas. The methods used for every target must be carefully chosen from a range of techniques, to meet the specific needs and requirements of the experimentalists requesting targets. Being able to characterize the thickness of a target can commonly be as challenging of a topic as making them in the first place. As fundamental of a capability as this field is, given that nearly every "interesting" target for cutting-edge science is not commercially available, the field is incredibly small and dwindling each year - making it a great opportunity to train new students and scientists in a dynamic and innovative skillset!
This hands-on activity will involve getting to deposit thin films of zinc metal on a substrate, using a variety of methods to characterize targets, and learning how to find the right tools to meet the target needs for your own future experiments.
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