The project „Advanced Research Training in Nuclear Photonics” (ARNPhot) brings together the leading scientists in this field at UNSTPB and TUD with matching expertise. It is motivated by the urgent need for well-trained scientists in this growing field in Europe, and worldwide, and for collaboration and mutual exchange of outstanding expertise of the RTs for efficient scientific usage of the newly established European infrastructure at Bucharest. This project will provide unprecedented research training for the scientific workforce in Nuclear Photonics of the next decades.
The project focuses on the qualification of excellent international junior scientists from natural or engineering sciences who choose a career in Nuclear Photonics for their doctoral studies in an international environment. Both partner institutions offer privileged access to extraordinary infrastructure, unparalleled in the world and complement each other in the field of nuclear photonics. The applicant institutions have gathered a strong group of experts with long-standing accomplishments in the fields and of respective academic guidance. Less-senior group leaders have been included in the group of RTs. They, too, have demonstrated their potential through recent significant contributions to the field of Nuclear Photonics. The group of scholars comprises 21 scientists based either at Bucharest or at Darmstadt, and who serve as Research Trainers (RTs). The Bucharest group of Research Trainers comprises 8 experienced scientists, all of them holding a professor title or being habilitated or in the habilitation process. All of them are granted the right to independently guide junior researchers in their doctoral research work.
The training program exploits unique capabilities at Natioanal University of Sciente and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest (UNSTPB) with its research program at the European Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) facility in Magurele featuring two synchronized 10-PW lasers and the VEGA system for the production of quasi-monochromatic γ–ray beams from Laser-Compton Backscattering (LCB), which is under construction, and at TUD with its facilities for MeV-ranged photon beams at the superconducting electron accelerator S-DALINAC along with its research program at the PHELIX high-intensity laser system at the Darmstadt GSI Helmholtz Centre.
The research training plan of the proposed project embraces the entire scientific production chain of Nuclear Photonics from the fundamental methods for the laser-induced generation of photon-and particle beams and their detection and quantitative characterization to their usage in fundamental research in nuclear science and nuclear astrophysics or for potential technological applications. All research activities expand beyond the current state of the art in three related areas of research:
A. Development of novel laser-generated radiation sources
B. Scientific exploitation of MeV-range photon beams
C. Advancement of methodology and instrumentation for Nuclear Photonics
They define the project areas of the proposed research program. Each project is led by two RTs, one from UNSTPB, responsible for guiding the research trainee to their graduation, and one from TUD. This establishes or extends close collaborations at both training sites from the start. The basis of the research training group is set by the suite of excellent and challenging research activities and the experience of its RTs ensuring an exciting research environment for all trainees. The qualification program rests on four pillars: Individual project training, professional development, networking, and career support. It is designed to provide clear goals and benchmarks for the efficient and successful completion of doctoral studies.