The development of advanced instrumentation and techniques is central our research. We partner with other programs within Nuclear Science Division and across LBNL to pursue technical projects that extend and enhance our science. From the development and construction of world-leading gamma-ray spectrometers such as GRETINA and GRETA, to cutting-edge streaming computing capabilities and application of machine-learning techniques to optimize every experiment, we couple technical projects with our physics interests to keep pushing boundaries in nuclear science.

The question of the maximum limits of nuclear mass and charge is fundamental to the field of nuclear science and our understanding of nuclear forces. For the heaviest nuclei with 114 protons or more, little information beyond a few basic properties can be determined during discovery experiments.  By performing detailed spectroscopic studies of deformed nuclei in the vicinity of Z≈100 and N≈152, which are far easier to access experimentally, we not only learn about their structure but can then use this knowledge to extrapolate to what we may find at the heaviest elements.

Short-range correlated (SRC) nucleon-nucleon pairs are a universal and fundamental part of the nuclear force, characterized by their small distance and large relative momentum. Our work is currently focused on the study of SRC properties and their interplay with the nuclear many-body system by extending ongoing experiments with electron scattering to radioactive nuclei using high-energy scattering with hadronic probes by breaking pairs apart. Those experiments performed in inverse kinematics offer access to new observables and potentially open the path to understanding high-density strongly-interacting nuclear matter.

The nuclear chart is expansive, with limits that are poorly or not at all defined and nuclei with properties that vary dramatically.  We perform studies toward the limits of nuclear existence, on both the neutron- and proton-rich sides of stability to investigate single-particle and collective excitations of the atomic nucleus.  Using facilities internationally, we focus on experiments that probe the nuclear phenomena that emerge with extreme proton-to-neutron ratios. These include changes in shell structure and collective motion, as well as the impact of weak binding on nuclear properties.