Nuclear Photonics

The research area "Nuclear Photonics" investigates the interaction between highly energetic photons and atomic nuclei. Due to the selectivity and penetrability of the photons they are an ideal probe for basic research and for applications.

As photon source we use bremsstrahlung as well as quasi monoenergetic photons from laser Compton backscattering. A new pan-european facility ("ELI-NP") for research with ultra-intense laser light and with quasi-monoenergetic photons is presently finalized close to Bucharest, Romania with a total investment exceeding 350 MEuro.

Our research group focuses on
  • Experiments with bremsstrahlung at DHIPS (TU Darmstadt) and Gamma-ELBE (HZDR, Dresden-Rossendorf).

  • Experiments with quasi monoenergetic photons as HIGS (TUNL, Durham, NC, USA).

  • Preparation of day-one experiments at ELI-NP (Bucharest-Margurele, Romania.

The projects are supported by the BMBF (05P2018PKEN9). A.Zilges is coordinator of the BMBF research collaboration 05P2018/ELI-NP.