Study of novel scintillator materials for high-energy physics and applications

About this position

Pictus PhD Fellowship Programme

Czech Technical University in Prague – International PhD Programme (PICTUS) will recruit 8 students (see Eligibility criteria below) for a full 48-month employment contract and enroll them in a specific PhD course. Candidates should prepare their own research proposal from the List of topics for the 2nd Call .

Application form should be filled and all required documents uploaded using the dedicated electronic form.

helpdesk: pictus@cvut.cz

Guide for Applicants

Study of novel scintillator materials for high-energy physics and applications

Desription:

Plastic scintillator detectors are widely used in high-energy physics (HEP) experiments for various applications, including calorimetry, luminosity measurement, particle tracking, and fast triggering. These detectors often operate in harsh environments, subjected to extreme radiation doses due to high collision rates and large particle multiplicities.

There is significant interest in developing advanced scintillator technologies with enhanced performance to meet the demands of future experiments. Key goals include improving timing resolution, radiation hardness, and tunability of the emission wavelength, among other properties.

This project proposes a detailed study of scintillator material properties to better understand the limits of current detector systems and accelerate the development of next-generation technologies with impact across HEP and medical imaging (TOF-PET).

As part of this project, the student will investigate new scintillator materials based on innovative plastic matrices doped with state-of-the-art components such as nanocrystals and quantum dots.

The student will have access to a laboratory for setting up dedicated test benches with NIM/VME electronics, an electronic assembly workshop, a spectrofluorometer, and radiation sources. The project has an important component of experimental work in the laboratory building on test benches (with commercial and ideally custom electronics) and manufacturing the plastic scintillators. All of this in collaboration with groups at CERN and the nuclear chemistry department at CTU.

Note that this call is only for funding. Students also have to apply to our PhD program (Nuclear Engineering; see details at https://fjfi.cvut.cz/en/applicants/doctoral-studies/admission-procedure-phd ). Note that the deadline to apply to the PhD program is May 21st .

Secondment:

NUVIA a.s. (Czech Republic)

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in the framework of the DRD collaboration (Geneva, Switzerland)