This project uses Geant4 simulations to investigate how naturally occurring cosmic rays interact with materials relevant to physics and environmental research, including NaI(Tl) crystals, gaseous detectors, and soil.

Investigate the structure and radioactive-decay properties of exotic nuclei, and the roles they play in advancing modern nuclear theory, stella nucleosynthesis and applications of nuclear technology in society. 

Nuclear metastable states, known colloquially as isomers, have energy densities millions of times greater than chemical batteries. This project investigates nuclear pathways for reliably extracting this energy from candidate isotopes on demand. 

This project aims to discover if the long-held concept of low-energy nuclear vibrations holds true under scrutiny from Coulomb excitation and nucleon-transfer reactions. 

This project will use nuclear reactions to study the basic make-up of atomic nuclei at the quantum level, and investigate the impact of nuclear structure on sub-atomic forces and fundamental physics. 

Experimental, simulation, and data analysis projects are available to help develop advanced detection technology which will form the basis of a future large particle physics experiment in Australia

Directional dark matter searches provide a way to probe beyond the irreducible ‘neutrino fog’ that limits traditional dark matter experiments. CYGNUS-OZ is part of the global directional dark matter effort, and this project focuses on the critical challenge of radon control in these detectors.

This project investigates radon-induced backgrounds in the CYGNO directional dark matter detector. The student will develop an event-by-event simulation of radioactive decay chains and use alpha particle signatures to infer low-energy backgrounds, contributing to the understanding of detector performance using recent experimental data.

This experiment will characterise dark matter detector material. Lowest levels of natural radioactivity in high purity samples will be analysed via ultra-senstive single atom counting using acclerator mass spectrometry.

Use ultra-fast gamma-ray detectors to perform excited-state lifetime measurements and investigate single-particle and collective features of atomic nuclei. 

Radioactivity from radon is a leading background for dark matter and other rare-event physics experiments. Developing ultra-sensitive radon detection is crucial to improve discovery potential and enable the next generation of breakthroughs in fundamental physics.