Research

Atomic nuclei are created in "high-spin" states by colliding heavy ions accelerated to high energies with a stationary target. The excited nuclei lose energy and slow down by emitting gamma-rays, which carry all the information regarding the properties of the nucleus. Experiments are proposed and carried out by the group at national heavy-ion accelerator facilities (such as the ATLAS superconducting linear accelerator at Argonne National Laboratory or the 88" cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory), with detector systems such as Gammasphere, a national gamma-ray detector array with ultra-high resolution and sensitivity. (Dr. Chowdhury was part of the team of US scientists that designed and built Gammasphere.) The multi-parameter "event-by-event" data are analyzed at UMass Lowell on a LINUX computer cluster.

The HI-SPIN group also conducts applied research in advanced detector development in collaboration with high-tech industries and national laboratories. These efforts are aimed at developing next-generation instrumentation and techniques for radiation detection, for use in nuclear research as well as in imaging and bio-medical applications. In addition to interacting with international groups of research scientists in the "off-site" accelerator experiments, students get hands-on experience on campus with cutting-edge nuclear detector technology. The detector characterization facilities include a CAMAC-based multi-parameter data acquisition system, with a 1 GHz digital storage oscilloscope.