List of new themes for dissertations (Nuclear and subnuclear physics; Environmental physics)

1. Determination of natural thorium and uranium using mass spectrometry

Supervisor: Ing. Jakub Kaizer, PhD.

Department: Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics

Contact: jakub.kaizerfmph.uniba.sk (F1 275)

Language: Slovak / English

Anotácia:
The long-lived natural radionuclides thorium (²³²Th) and uranium (²³⁸U) are among the main contributors to the background in experiments investigating very rare phenomena such as neutrinoless double beta decay or the origin of dark matter. Due to their ubiquity in the environment, these radionuclides are also present in the construction materials of the detection systems of the mentioned experiments (e.g. copper, iron, polymers). In addition to classical radiometric methods, it is possible to use highly sensitive accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) or inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine their concentration, however, they generally require the separation of thorium and uranium and the subsequent processing of the sample into a suitable form. For this purpose, it is possible to use various radiochemical separation techniques (e.g. chromatographic procedures, co-precipitation). The dissertation will be focused on the development and validation of methods for the separation of thorium and uranium from various matrices and the preparation of samples for analysis by AMS and ICP-MS. Another goal of the work will be the application of these methods for the determination of natural thorium and uranium in selected materials of low background experiments (e.g. LEGEND).