202 FRIB Graduate Brochure

Wolfgang Mittig
University Distinguished Professor of Physics
Keywords: Clustering and Resonances in Nuclei, Active Target Detectors,
FRIB Target and Beam Dump Magnetic Spectrometers (ISLA), Exploring Dark
Matter (Im)possibilities at our Lab
Experimental Nuclear Physics
About
• Hauptdiplom, University of Bonn, Germany, 1967
• Docteur ès Sciences, Université de Paris, 1971
• Livre Docente, University of Sao Paulo, 1977
• Joined the laboratory in January 2008
• mittig@frib.msu.edu
Research
Since my university studies, first in Germany and later in
France, I involved myself in very general problematics,
such as the foundation of quantum mechanics (Bell
inequality), together with more practical applications,
such as nuclear energy and environment. I am mainly
working on experimental nuclear physics, and more
specifically on the spectroscopy of exotic nuclei. in order
to study very rare nuclei far from stability. We developed
an “active target,” a detector in which the detection gas
is at the same time the target, in order to study rare
nuclei far from stability. This detector implies about
10,000 electronic channels and involves a challenging
track analysis related to pattern recognition methods.
Related to FRIB, I am working on a target and a beam
stopper for the 400kW beam. An achromatic isochronous
large acceptance spectrometer called ISLA is a project
for the reaccelerator. I am exploring possibilities (and
impossibilities) to study dark matter in our laboratory.
Current research projects and research opportunities:
• Experiments with the AT-TPC (Active Target -Time
Projection Chamber and its prototype (pAT-TPC)
with accepted experiments at FRIB, Triumf (Canada)
and RCNP (Japan)
• Analysis of these experiments
• Development of pit-hole detectors as Micro Pattern
Gas Detectors
• Development of a 3-He gas handling system with
purification and recovering of the gas
• The ISLA spectrometer: optics and magnetic elements
• A project of an Active Target for TRIUMF and FRIB
(submitted)
• Hydraulic flow in a rotating water filled drum for FRIB
• A device for study of (p,2p) reactions in combination
with the neutron detector MONA
• All theses projects imply as a start test devices at a
small scale, to be set up by students and be tested
in small scale experiments. Some of the technical
research is done in collaboration with industry via
SBIR (Small Business Innovation of Research).
Selected Publications
Direct Observation of Proton Emission in 11Be, Y. Ayyad, B.
Olaizola, W. Mittig, G. Potel, V. Zelevinsky. Physical Review
Letters, 123, 082501, 2019
Active targets for the study of nuclei far from stability,
S. Beceiro-Novo, T. Ahn, D. Bazin, W. Mittig, Progress in
Particle and Nuclear Physics, Volume 84, 2015, Pages 124-
165
Physics and technology of time projection chambers as
active targets. Y. Ayyad, D. Bazin, S. Beceiro-Novo. et al.
Eur. Phys. J. A (2018) 54: 181.
A schematic view of the Active Target Time Projection
Chamber. AT-TPC. The chamber is operated within a
large bore (1.2m) solenoid, to determine the energy of
the charged reaction products by the curvature of their
trajectory. The image of the trajectories will be read out
by 10,000 electronic channels.
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