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Joseph Blankenburg, Ronald Bartolo II
James Madison University

Subject Listing - Physics/Astronomy
Advisor: Dr. Steve Whisnant

Thursday, Oral Session 2, Presentation 2, Robinson Hall 217

PRODUCTION OF POLARIZED NUCLEAR TARGETS FOR USE IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS

B. van den Brant, E.I. Bunyatova and J.A. Konter pioneered the method for producing polarized scintillating targets/detectors at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. We are trying to reproduce the method and work out the ambiguous details in their paper. Having studied their properties, we plan to give a brief explanation of how they work and how they are produced. The characteristics of polarizability, clarity, and scintillation efficiency are important for the targets to be used successfully. We will discuss how certain variations in the process affect these characteristics. The goal of the research is to produce targets with these characteristics, such that Compton scattering and threshold pion photo-production can be studied. The use of these targets will allow lower energies to be used for studying pion photo-production and an elimination of the background radiation at the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIGS) facility at Duke University. We will conclude with a discussion of future goals and a summary of our results.

Advisor: Dr. Steve Whisnant, Professor and Department Head, Physics, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA