Title:

Advancements in Polysiloxane-based Scintillators for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Mission

Speaker:

Ms. Mackenzie Duce

Affiliation:

Georgia Institute of Technology

When:

Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room 3-47

Host:

Steven Biegalski
Steven.biegalski@me.gatech.edu

Abstract

Maintaining the current international nuclear nonproliferation regime requires state of the art radiation detection tools for inspectors. Organic scintillators are commonly utilized for their low cost and the ability to discern fast neutron signals from gamma rays via pulse shape discrimination. However, many commercial options have long fabrication times, low radiation hardness, and short shelf lives. The Laboratory for Advanced Nuclear Nonproliferation and Safety, in collaboration with Dr. Alan Sellinger at Colorado School of Mines, has developed organic scintillator based radiation detectors with a polysiloxane matrix material to combat these challenges while maintaining PSD-capabilities. In this seminar, I will cover the current status of polysiloxane scintillators for this mission and present the latest results for Boron doped polysiloxane scintillators for three particle imaging.

Biography

Mackenzie Duce is a PhD student in the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Department at Georgia Tech conducting research in Dr. Anna Ericksons Laboratory for Advanced Nuclear Nonproliferation and Safety. Before coming to Georgia Tech, Mackenzie received her B.S. in Physics from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo where she conducted research in a fluid dynamics lab. Mackenzie has supported work as an affiliate researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Emory's Proton Center, and the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnologies at Georgia Tech. Her research interests are in organic scintillators based on unconventional materials and advanced data analysis techniques in support of the international nuclear nonproliferation mission.

Notes

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