August 17, 2005

NC State to Receive $1 Million NSF Grant to Establish Intense Anti-Matter Beam

  — Facility will be only one in U.S.

The Department of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University, in collaboration with researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Michigan, has received a $1 million major research instrumentation (MRI) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The funding will support the establishment of an intense positron (anti-matter) beam at the NCSU PULSTAR nuclear reactor and the development of an intense positron annihilation spectrometry system for nanophase characterization. The facility will be the only one of its kind at a university research reactor in the U.S.

The unique facility will provide two different spectrometers for the nondestructive probe of matter, giving next-generation materials researchers a new way to “see” the structure inside nanomaterials. One spectrometer, a positronium PALS spectrometer, will be able to study nanoporous thin films and patterned microelectronic devices. The other instrument, a time-bunched positron PALS spectrometer, will be used for studying metals and semiconductors.

“These probes are essential for the further development of nanotechnology,” said Dr. Ayman Hawari, associate professor of nuclear engineering and director of the Nuclear Reactor Program at NC State. “Intense positron annihilation spectrometry will give researchers a more powerful tool — by several orders of magnitude — for studying the structure of newly developed materials.”

The NC State, ORNL and Michigan team built a prototype instrument that demonstrated the ability to produce and extract positrons near the core of the PULSTAR reactor. Once completed the new facility, complemented by PULSTAR facilities for neutron scattering, will form the centerpiece for North Carolina National Center for Nanophase Characterization (NC)³. It will be available to academic researchers at no cost under the US Department of Energy University Reactor Sharing Program.

The positron beam project grew out of the Multi-University Southeast INIE Consortium (MUSIC) that is led by the Department of Nuclear Engineering at NC State and funded through the Innovations in Nuclear Infrastructure and Education (INIE) program. The INIE program provides funding for developing ways for university research reactors to perform unique fundamental and applied research.

— weston —

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