The Applied Nuclear Physics (ANP) program combines multiple disciplines to develop new radiation detection and imaging technologies to address major challenges in basic science, nuclear safety and security, and medical physics. The efforts of the ANP program leverage the unique opportunities provided by LBNL and UC Berkeley, combining research and the training of the next generation of researchers. The work of ANP is supported by a range of sponsors including several offices in the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health.

Major research themes in ANP include the development of new radiation detectors and associated readout at the Semiconductor Detector Laboratory (SDL) and the Scintillator Engineering Laboratory (SEL), radiation imaging and nuclear robotics, the application of computer vision and AI to radiation detection and imaging, radiation detection algorithms, sensor networks, biomedical imaging, and scientific data management.

We are an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers with diverse backgrounds in nuclear physics, nuclear engineering, materials science, electrical engineering, computer science, and robotics. We maintain close ties with the UC Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering and the UCSF Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Department through our affiliated staff and students.

Celebrating A-LIFT’s Outstanding Pre-College Volunteer: Hannah Parrilla

A group of people standing holding awards.

Episode 3: The Invisible Cannonball: Tracking Alpha Therapy for the Future of Cancer Treatment

Fast Machine Learning-Enabled Uncertainty Quantification for Radiological Mapping

the image shows the radiological mapping and image reconstruction process. A detector system carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle scans the field to measure the counts due to environmental background and potential radioactive sources. The data collected during the mapping is processed on an edge computer. The major results output from the computer is a map showing the estimated radioactivity intensity.

Publications