PhD thesis prize for Couet and Röhrs
This year's PhD thesis prize of the Association of the Friends and Sponsors of DESY is shared by Sebastien Couet and Michael Röhrs, both from the University of Hamburg. The annual prize acknowledges the best doctoral thesis on DESY physics. Couet receives the prize for his thesis on "The structural and magnetic properties of Fe/native oxide systems resolved by X-ray scattering and spectroscopy methods". His results point out a new way of stabilizing novel magnetic structures. Röhrs receives the prize for his thesis on the "Investigation of the Phase Space Distribution of Electron Bunches at the FLASH Linac Using a Transverse Deflecting Structure". His work covers high-resolution beam diagnostics at the free-electron laser, FLASH.
ICNTS '08 follows nuclear tracks in Bologna
The 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids (ICNTS) took place in September 2008 at the Belmeloro Conference Complex of the University of Bologna. Organized by the university together with the International Nuclear Track Society (INTS), INFN and the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), the conference as usual provided an opportunity for very different scientific communities to meet, with topics ranging from fundamental research in physics and astrophysics to applied research in the environment, health and advanced technologies, such as nanotechnologies.
INTS has a long tradition in nuclear track detectors (NTDs) and their applications. NTDs can record the passage of heavily ionizing particles through the production of a nanometre-scale damage zone (the "latent track") along their trajectories. The latent track can be amplified by applying appropriate chemical etching and it appears, under an optical microscope, as a cone-shaped etch-pit. The technique, which employs materials such as polymers, glasses and minerals, is relatively low cost and so may be used by small groups of researchers in developing countries. It becomes more costly if automatic scanning systems are needed to analyse large surface areas.
With their resistance to radiation and excellent charge resolution (which can be as low as 1/20th of the electron charge), NTDs allow searches at accelerators for the production of heavily-ionizing particles, such as point-like magnetic monopoles, and studies of ion-fragmentation processes. In many cases, when the event rate is expected to be small – as in searches for exotic particles in the cosmic radiation – NTDs provide a viable detection technique as they are passive, reliable on long runs and easy to deploy. In applied physics they are widely used for radon monitoring, neutron dosimetry and in medical applications.
More than 140 people from 30 countries (mainly from Europe, China, India, Pakistan, Russia and South America) attended the 24th ICNTS. The conference programme included invited plenary talks on hadron therapy, radiation protection in space, searches for exotic phenomena, and the status of large projects. Parallel sessions for oral and poster presentations (with about 300 abstracts submitted) covered the following topics: particle and nuclear physics; high-energy interactions and cosmic rays; radiation environment monitoring; neutron dosimetry; medical applications; radiation-induced damage; Earth and planetary sciences and dating; and nano and microstructure technology, methods and instrumentation. In addition, a special session on the "Energy problem" was open to students and the general public.
During the conference, Denis O'Sullivan, emeritus at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, was awarded the R Walker Medal, in acknowledgement of his outstanding contribution to the field. Yi Lun Law, a student at the City University of Hong Kong, was awarded the V Perelygin Prize for the originality of her research work and presentation skills. There were also awards for several posters, the first prize going to "School Education by Observation of Nuclear Tracks in Solids" by T Tsuruta of the Atomic Energy Research Institute, Kinki University in Japan. The poster was chosen for its originality and the application of scientific ideas in everyday life and for teaching.
• The proceedings of the conference are being published in Radiation Measurements (Elsevier). The 25th ICNTS will be held in Puebla, Mexico, in 2011.