Presented By: Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences
The Fifth Annual Glenn F. Knoll Lecture: Adam Bernstein, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Detection and Measurement of Highly Penetrating Radiation
TITLE: Detection and Measurement of Highly Penetrating Radiation
ABSTRACT: Glenn Knoll’s seminal textbook on Radiation Detection and Measurement covers the topic with great depth, breadth and clarity, with an obvious and sensible focus on ionizing radiations. In this lecture I discuss a type of radiation that does not readily induce ionization, but is nonetheless a continued source of fascination and study by physicists, and more recently, nuclear engineers. Neutrinos have remarkable properties of penetration, passing through the entire Earth with a vanishingly small probability of interaction. In sufficiently large numbers, such as are emitted by reactors, the sun, the Earth itself, and supernovae, the aggregated probability of interaction becomes appreciable. When a neutrino does interact, it generates the familiar ionizing radiations whose detection is reviewed in Professor Knoll’s textbook. In this lecture, I will introduce the basic properties of the neutrino, share some of the triumphs and tribulations of the experimentalists who have sought to measure them, and discuss relatively recent efforts at my own Laboratory, and world-wide, to harness these unusual, seductively evanescent particles for the practical purpose of monitoring the operations of nuclear reactors.
BIO: Dr. Adam Bernstein is a staff physicist at LLNL and a fellow of the American Physical Society. He also leads the Rare Event Detection group in the Nuclear & Chemical Sciences division at LLNL. Since receiving his PhD in physics from Columbia University in 1995, he has worked on the development of advanced low noise, low cost, high-efficiency and high-resolution radiation detectors for use in fundamental and applied physics. He has pioneered and helped bring to maturity what has become a wide international effort to develop antineutrino detectors as a tool for monitoring nuclear reactors.
In the area of applied physics, Bernstein’s main interests are in the development of improved radiation detection techniques that facilitate global nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament. His fundamental physics interests are primarily in the study of rare neutral particles, in particular the measurement of neutrino oscillations using reactor sources, and the search for direct interactions of dark matter in Earthly detectors.
This annual lecture series was made possible by a generous endowment from Gladys Knoll to commemorate the over 50-year UM career in education and research of the late Professor Emeritus, Chair and Interim Dean, Glenn F. Knoll. These lectures in nuclear measurements, the field pioneered by Professor Knoll, will be an inspiration to future generations of students.
ABSTRACT: Glenn Knoll’s seminal textbook on Radiation Detection and Measurement covers the topic with great depth, breadth and clarity, with an obvious and sensible focus on ionizing radiations. In this lecture I discuss a type of radiation that does not readily induce ionization, but is nonetheless a continued source of fascination and study by physicists, and more recently, nuclear engineers. Neutrinos have remarkable properties of penetration, passing through the entire Earth with a vanishingly small probability of interaction. In sufficiently large numbers, such as are emitted by reactors, the sun, the Earth itself, and supernovae, the aggregated probability of interaction becomes appreciable. When a neutrino does interact, it generates the familiar ionizing radiations whose detection is reviewed in Professor Knoll’s textbook. In this lecture, I will introduce the basic properties of the neutrino, share some of the triumphs and tribulations of the experimentalists who have sought to measure them, and discuss relatively recent efforts at my own Laboratory, and world-wide, to harness these unusual, seductively evanescent particles for the practical purpose of monitoring the operations of nuclear reactors.
BIO: Dr. Adam Bernstein is a staff physicist at LLNL and a fellow of the American Physical Society. He also leads the Rare Event Detection group in the Nuclear & Chemical Sciences division at LLNL. Since receiving his PhD in physics from Columbia University in 1995, he has worked on the development of advanced low noise, low cost, high-efficiency and high-resolution radiation detectors for use in fundamental and applied physics. He has pioneered and helped bring to maturity what has become a wide international effort to develop antineutrino detectors as a tool for monitoring nuclear reactors.
In the area of applied physics, Bernstein’s main interests are in the development of improved radiation detection techniques that facilitate global nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament. His fundamental physics interests are primarily in the study of rare neutral particles, in particular the measurement of neutrino oscillations using reactor sources, and the search for direct interactions of dark matter in Earthly detectors.
This annual lecture series was made possible by a generous endowment from Gladys Knoll to commemorate the over 50-year UM career in education and research of the late Professor Emeritus, Chair and Interim Dean, Glenn F. Knoll. These lectures in nuclear measurements, the field pioneered by Professor Knoll, will be an inspiration to future generations of students.
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