Conveners
Session 7: Applied Nuclear Physics
- Pete Jones (iThemba LABS)
Nuclear science is a field of research addressing the properties of the constituents of matter at the heart of the atom. From the quarks to nuclear reactions in stars, nuclear science is driven by the passion of its communities and the research funding they secure, mostly from tax-payers. But some may wonder what returns does society gain from this investment.
Besides the evident...
Nuclear security issues have received increased attention in recent years, in particular in the current geopolitical climate. At the same time, fast developments in the nuclear energy sector also require new developments for enhanced nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards techniques. There is a strong connection between these areas in terms of technical solutions in the field. We have...
This work investigates building a two-stage Compton camera in terms of energy resolution, efficiency, fast timing, and geometrical configuration for beam range monitoring in hadron therapy. While development of a clinical imaging device has made tremendous strides, there are challenges to be addressed.
A Compton camera prototype is investigated, assessing the optimal geometrical configuration...
Legacy ex-clinical positron emission tomography (PET) systems continue to offer powerful capabilities when coupled with modern digital data acquisition (DDAQ) systems. At the University of Cape Town, revitalised PET hardware is being transformed into a flexible experimental platform for applied nuclear physics, radiation detection, multimodal imaging studies, and student education and...
The results of the ARDE project will be presented, aiming to develop innovative algorithms based on neural network architectures to discriminate between signals induced by electrons and γ-rays in semiconductor detectors, specifically in Si(Li) and HPGe. The algorithm performances for internal conversion electron spectroscopy measurements in an energy range from ∼300 keV to ∼1-2 MeV will be...
Accurate analysis in gamma-ray spectrometry is critical for a wide range of applications, from environmental monitoring to nuclear safeguards. In this study, we present a machine learning-driven approach to improve spectrometric accuracy using two powerful neural architectures: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs). By training these models on a curated...
In series of the photo-fission reactions, namely, 235, 238U(γ, f), 232Th(γ, f), 242Pu(γ, f) we have found that some part of the fission fragments (FFs) are presumably born in the state of the fission isomer with the yield Y ≈ 10–3/binary fission and with the lifetime τisom > 400 nsec [1, 2]. A binary break-up of such fragments was observed when they pass through a solid-state foil. The effect...
