Nuclear Spectroscopy Laboratory

The goal of this course is to introduce experimental spectroscopy techniques useful both for basic research and in numerous applications in various sectors. The student will use detectors of different types and will be able to acquire and correlate a number of parameters related to the quantities to be measured. Data analysis will be performed using computer programs that will allow the student to intervene externally in order to optimize the procedures to be adapted for their specific cases.
In particular with this laboratory the students will learn on the mechanisms of energy release by gamma-rays and the techniques for their measurement. The detectors used are both scintillators and solid state types. The best techniques for measuring time distributions will also be also learned. The data analysis uses the correlation between several parameters to arrive at the identification of the nuclei and at the construction of their level schemes.

The students will learn about the operation and use of scintillator and solid-state detectors to measure gamma-ray energy and life time of nuclear levels.
The students will learn to set up data acquisitions of multiple parameters and to analyze the data in order to deduce information connected to a specific nucleus from sets of data that for their nature contain information concerning several nuclei.
These techniques are the basis of the operation of arrays containing many detectors, used both for basic physics and for applications. Therefore what is learned here represents an important training ground for different career opportunities.