PhD Studentship - Neutron Imaging Techniques for Inspection of High-density Cargo

How many positions: 1

This 4-year PhD project is fully funded and home students, and EU students with settled status, are eligible to apply. The successful candidate will received an annual tax free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£19,237 for 2024/25) plus an additional £3,000 provided by the sponsor, and tuition fees will be paid. We expect the stipend to increase each year.

This co-funded project will investigate the feasibility of new imaging modalities for situations where currently employed imaging techniques, such as X-ray transmission and backscatter, have limitations. This project will focus on the feasibility for using neutrons to image high density objects. Neutrons have higher penetrability than X-rays but neutron generation and imaging solutions are more challenging and so they are yet to be fully utilised in commercial applications. Neutrons can be used either in transmission imaging, where the loss of flux though an object reveals details on its density, or via resonance spectroscopy, where neutrons excite states in certain materials which can then be identified through inspection of the neutron energy spectra or emitted radiation.

The project will initially involve simulation work using Monte-Carlo codes to characterise the expected performance of proposed measurement techniques and detector arrangements. This will be followed by validation measurements using UK national neutron facilities such as the National Physical Laboratory NPL and the ISIS Neutron and Muon source to validate the expected performance. The objective is to make a recommendation design for a test facility at the industrial partner, Rapiscan Systems Ltd, and ultimately contribute to the development and deployment of this technology on a commercial scale.

Rapiscan Systems Ltd are a world leader in imaging and detection techniques for security applications and the nuclear physics group at the University of Manchester have great experience working with neutrons and particle detectors. This PhD covers both fundamental research in areas of neutron physics and the application of this to real-world problems and is an excellent opportunity for candidates interested in a PhD in applied nuclear physics. The outcomes of the PhD will cover several applications which stand to benefit from these techniques, such as security applications in imaging nuclear waste characterisation and non-destructive trace isotopic analysis of objects and materials which sit within the EPSRC remit.

Applicants should have or expect to achieve at least a 2.1 honours degree in physics.

To apply, please contact the supervisor for this project, Dr Gavin Smith - Gavin.Smith@manchester.ac.uk. Please include details of your current level of study, academic background and any relevant experience and include a paragraph about your motivation to study this PhD project.

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