Projects
Combining high-resolution laser and decay spectroscopy to study nuclei near the N=50 magic shell closure KU Leuven
The study of exotic radioisotopes, with an unnatural ratio of protons to neutrons, is essential to further our understanding of the atomic nucleus. Those isotopes are found in the explosion of dying stars, in nuclear medicine, or in nuclear waste. The study of the decay of those radioisotopes is often limited by the purity of the sample that can be produced. In this project, we propose to couple state-of-the-art, high-resolution, laser ...
Laser and decay spectroscopy of exotic silver isotopes KU Leuven
The quantum structure of radioactive silver nuclei will be investigated towards the edges of the nuclear chart, in the vicinity of the magic numbers N=50,82, by combining laser and decay spectroscopy together at international facilities such as the accelerator laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and CERN ISOLDE in Switzerland.
Laser and decay spectroscopy of neutron-deficient radioactive nuclei in the lead region (Z=82). KU Leuven
The fundamental interactions that are important to explain the properties of an atom are the electromagnetic force, that keep the electrons circling around the atomic nucleus, the weak force, that is responsible for nuclear beta decay which represents an important form of radioactivity, and the strong force, that keeps the protons and neutrons (also called nucleons) together in the nucleus. The electromagnetic force is well known, but the ...
Photoabsorption spectroscopy and decay dynamics of small coinage metal clusters KU Leuven
Clusters, commonly defined as species composed of a countable number of atoms, have properties strongly dependent on size and composition. Many efforts have been undertaken in order to understand cluster properties, combining experimental and theoretical approaches. These have mainly covered ground-states properties, such as lowest-energy structures or gas-phase reactivities, leaving processes influenced by the excited-state dynamics of the ...
VUV and laser spectroscopy of the Th-229 isomer: a step towards a nuclear clock KU Leuven
This PhD position is opened in the framework of the 229m-Th isomer study. This unique nuclear isomer at an excitation energy of around 8.3 eV (corresponding to a VUV transition of about 150 nm) should allow to built a nuclear clock that outperforms the precision of current atomic clock by at least an order of magnitude and exhibits unique properties to test fundamental physics. While this unique isomer has been proposed four decades ago, it ...
Development and characterisation of the S3-Low Energy Branch for laser spectroscopy studies of exotic nuclei KU Leuven
In this thesis work the development and characterisation of the Super Separator Spectrometer (S³) Low Energy Branch (S³-LEB) is discussed. This new installation will allow the study of neutron-deficient medium-heavy and heavy isotopes using laser, mass and decay spectroscopy techniques. Such studies will be possible thanks to the high energy and intensity heavy-ion primary beam from the GANIL-SPIRAL2 facility. In this work the full S³-LEB ...
Shape coexistence in the nickel (Z=28) and mercury (Z=80) regions probed through decay studies KU Leuven
In the last 60 years, the understanding of shape coexistence, a phenomenon when low-lying nuclear structures are exhibiting different deformations, evolved from being a rarity which occurs only in selected nuclei, to an almost universal property throughout the whole chart of nuclides. There are many fingerprints pointing toward shape coexistence in the nucleus, with the spectroscopic quadrupole moment being the most important. This phenomenon ...
Excited states, optical spectra, and decay dynamics of small coinage metal clusters KU Leuven
The main ambition of the cluster science research field is to understand how matter is built up from an atom over clusters and nanoparticles to larger systems including bulk. Central knowledge in the field is that properties of clusters are strongly size dependent and that zero dimensional quantum confinement determines their physical and chemical properties in a non-scalable way. So far, very little experimental and theoretical information ...
Development and assessment of novel ultrafast spectroscopy detection methods to characterize excited state electron and energy transfer in molecular electronic devices KU Leuven
This application is for a joint project of the Laboratory of Photochemistry and Spectroscopy at KULeuven and the Laboratory of Quantum Optics at the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia). Organic photovoltaic cells and organic light emitting diodes consist of thin films of carbon based molecules and convert light into a voltage or vice versa. While their fabrication is cheaper than inorganic devices their efficiency is still much below the ...