Undergraduate education at the University of Kentucky accelerator laboratory

The University of Kentucky accelerator laboratory provides undergraduate students an opportunity to experience scientific research in nuclear physics. They are introduced to our research program, which focuses on the examination of basic nuclear properties using the 7 MV CN Van de Graaff accelerator and the time-of-flight facility to perform inelastic neutron scattering measurements with γ-ray and neutron detection. Students are given a series of projects to support the measurements including experimental equipment setup, kinematic calculations, data collection, experimental diagnostics, MCNP simulations, analysis code development, and preliminary analysis of the data. Undergraduate physics majors from the University of Dallas took part in (n,n′γ) measurements for LiF. Neutron scattering cross sections for these nuclei, which are of significant interest in coolant designs for molten salt reactors, were determined for incident neutron energies between 0.8 and 4.5 MeV. By measuring the γ-ray production cross sections and feeding contributions from higher-lying levels, students extracted the neutron level cross sections for Li and F. Additional (n,n′) measurements for Li metal will be performed in the near future to supplement the γ-ray data.