Wolfgang Mittig

University Distinguished Professor of Physics

About

  • Joined the laboratory in January 2008
  • Experimental nuclear physics
  • Contact information

Education and training

  • Hauptdiplom, University of Bonn, Germany, 1967
  • Docteur ès Sciences, Université de Paris, 1971
  • Livre Docente, University of Sao Paulo, 1977

Research

Since my university studies, first in Germany and later in
France, I involved myself in very general problematics,
such as the foundation of quantum mechanics (Bell
inequality), together with more practical applications,
such as nuclear energy and environment. I am mainly
working on experimental nuclear physics, and more
specifically on the spectroscopy of exotic nuclei. in order
to study very rare nuclei far from stability. We developed
an “active target,” a detector in which the detection gas
is at the same time the target, in order to study rare
nuclei far from stability. This detector implies about
10,000 electronic channels and involves a challenging
track analysis related to pattern recognition methods.
Related to FRIB, I am working on a target and a beam
stopper for the 400kW beam. An achromatic isochronous
large acceptance spectrometer called ISLA is a project
for the reaccelerator. I am exploring possibilities (and
impossibilities) to study dark matter in our laboratory.
A schematic view of the Active Target Time Projection
Chamber. AT-TPC. The chamber is operated within a
large bore (1.2m) solenoid, to determine the energy of
the charged reaction products by the curvature of their
trajectory. The image of the trajectories will be read out
by 10,000 electronic channels.

Current research projects and research opportunities:

  •  Experiments with the AT-TPC (Active Target -Time
    Projection Chamber and its prototype (pAT-TPC)
    with accepted experiments at FRIB, Triumf (Canada)
    and RCNP (Japan)
  • Analysis of these experiments
  • Development of pit-hole detectors as Micro Pattern
    Gas Detectors
  • Development of a 3-He gas handling system with
    purification and recovering of the gas
  • The ISLA spectrometer: optics and magnetic elements
  • A project of an Active Target for TRIUMF and FRIB(submitted)
  • Hydraulic flow in a rotating water filled drum for FRIB
  • A device for study of (p,2p) reactions in combination
    with the neutron detector MONA
  • All theses projects imply as a start test devices at a
    small scale, to be set up by students and be tested
    in small scale experiments. Some of the technical
    research is done in collaboration with industry via
    SBIR (Small Business Innovation of Research).

Scientific publications