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Nuclear Physics, radiation, and detection Instructors:
Office hours: Fridays, 5-6PM via zoom. |
Texts
- Required text is: "Radiation, Detection, and Measurement," (Wiley) by Glenn Knoll. 2nd edition or later is fine. I will use the 4th edition. It is an expensive textbook. You may find it in the library or try to find online.
- General additional readings: "Subatomic Physics", 3rd edition, (World Scientific) by E. Henley and A. Garcia. You can buy the book if you are interested, but, since it may be expensive, I have made a pdf available.
Lectures
T-Th 7:00-8:50
NPL conference room (down the hill from McMahon dorm, next to N12 parking lot) uw.edu/maps/?npv
This is a class on Nuclear Physics, radiation and detection. Students will learn some basic concepts on nuclear physics; the processes that can produce radiation, and typical detection systems; practical experience with high-resolution photon detectors; the basics of ion accelerators and practical experience with our own tandem accelerator; the basics of Rutherford scattering and how it can be used to identify minute amounts of contaminants; the basics of the functioning of nuclear reactors; and some concepts on reactions and nuclear astrophysics.
I hope you find this course stimulating and interesting.
We will have several Lab Sessions for the students coming in person. For the students attending remotely there will be videos available. Data will be provided to all so students can work on assignments.
Schedule:
The table below lists what will be covered in lectures and reading assignments. Lecture notes files will be posted under Files.
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Tuesdays |
Wednesdays |
Thursdays |
Saturdays |
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Week 1: Readings: |
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9/25: The atomic nucleus. Orders of magnitude. Basic nuclear physics. Nuclear energy. Decays.
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9/27: Quiz 1 due |
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Week 2: Readings: |
09/30: Emission of photons and interactions. Attenuation of gamma radiation. (Knoll: Ch.2.III) |
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10/02: Laboratory practice 1. Working with Ge detector. Deciphering the mystery source. |
10/04: Quiz 2 due |
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Week 3: Readings: |
10/07: Ranges of ions and electrons. Radioactivity, ionizing radiation damage and health risks. Alpha, beta, gamma radiation and neutrons. (Knoll: Ch. 2) |
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10/09: Lab practice 2. Radiation detectors monitors for alpha, beta, gamma radiation. |
10/11: Lab 1 report due |
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Week 4: Readings: |
10/14: Counting Statistics. (Knoll, Ch. 3) |
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10/16: Group 1 Lab practice 3. Ion source. |
10/18: Quiz 3 due |
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Week 5: Readings: |
10/21: Group 2 Lab practice 3. Ion source. | 10/22: Choice for Final Presentation due |
10/23: CENPA Tour |
10/25: Lab 2 report due. |
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Week 6: Readings: |
10/28: Ion beam accelerators. |
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10/30: Lab practice 4. Accelerator beams. Show and tell. |
11/01: Lab 3 report due. |
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Week 7: Readings: |
11/04: Fission and Fusion. Nuclear reactors. |
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11/06: Rutherford Scattering |
11/08: Quiz 4 due |
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Week 8: |
11/11: Group 1 Lab practice 5. Rutherford scattering. |
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11/13: Group 2 Lab Practice 5. Rutherford scattering. |
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Week 9: |
11/18: Nuclear Astrophysics. Nuclear Resonances. |
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11/20: Nuclear structure, nuclear shell model. |
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Week 10:
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11/25: |
10/26: Lab 5 report due. |
11/27: Thanksgiving |
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Week 11: |
12/02: Final Presentations: Group A and B |
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12/04: Final Presentations: Group C and D |
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Week 12: |
12/09: Final Presentations: Group E and F* |
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*Would prefer to do this last presentations on 12/05. Need to check with all students in the class.
Final Presentations Group Assignments
Instead of a Final Exam we will have presentations by groups made of 4 to 5 students each. Students should sign up and form groups. The groups will meet and divide the work for a coherent presentation. The group is welcome to study together and help each other with understanding the material. Each member should know well the whole chapter, but presents about 1/4 of the content. Each member has about 15 min for their presentation. The presentation should be coherent, so that the lecture has continuity from one presenter to the next.
Regarding presentations:
- Group should make presentation slides available right after the presentation. Please upload them in the google drive (Links to an external site) with name GroupX-Presentation.pdf.
- Students from the class will ask questions from the presenters via the google doc corresponding to the given presentation. Each student in the class should make sure to ask at least 1 question from the other presentations (not one from each presentation, just 1 overall.) I will give students points for asking the questions and also to the presenters who answer. It is ok to answer "we don't know..." or "we are unsure, but here is what we think..."