Nuclear

The Nuclear Physics Center builds upon existing skills from upstream to downstream of the nuclear sector, with the presence of the large equipment GANIL and of research laboratories in interdisciplinary and nuclear physics. Together, they cover a wide range of expertise, addressing both fundamental research, and applications at the intersection of nuclear and energy, nuclear and industry, nuclear and health.
This one is composed of:

• LPC Caen or The Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire de Caen
• GANIL or The Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds
• CIMAP or The Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique

Together, the three laboratories are at the heart of considerable promises supported by unique projects of scientific equipment and infrastructure. The stake is to develop our expertise in two areas:

1. the first, which deals with the study of accelerator-driven reactors and radioactive waste management, is tightly related to immediate application needs in the energy sector;
2. the second, which is about probing matter at the limits of its stability, is on the contrary on the exploratory end of the spectrum.

We are expert on the field of:

• nuclear waste management,
• high-precision nuclear data for societal applications,
• new materials for supporting high-dose radiation, with application to energy or spatial

The Nuclear Physics Center contribute to the continuous improvement of the accuracy of calculation codes and nuclear safety, as well as to the optimization of radioactive waste management or nuclear materials.

The new facilities of GANIL/SPIRAL2, NFS, S³ & DESIR, open exciting scientific prospects and have considerable attraction for teams nationally and internationally. These installations will provide during the first years of operation many opportunities to develop original and internationally visible lines of research in the field of nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics, in particular on the origin of the elements and the understanding of fundamental interaction responsible for the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the Universe.

The Nuclear Physics Center has the ambition to:

• Develop new national and international collaborations
• Attract new high-level researchers to resource teams,
• Increase the number of students enrolled in the relevant degrees (Master’s degree NAC – Nuclei, Atoms and Collisions)