Surrey sensors to aid study of stellar creation  

Known as FAUST, the project will create detection equipment for GRETA (Gamma-Ray Tracking Array), a high-resolution sensing platform at the University of Michigan’s $730m Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).

GRETA is designed to reveal new details about the structure and inner workings of atomic nuclei, and to elevate our understanding of matter and the stellar creation of elements. 

Scientists at FRIB will smash beams of speedy rare isotopes into various forms of plastic targets. GRETA will allow them to measure the emerging charged particles that are produced, shedding light on the origins of a range of elements from gold to oxygen. The particles will be measured by a combination of silicon detectors supplied by West Sussex-based Micron Semiconductor Ltd and caesium iodide crystals developed at York University.

“Slowing down particles that are moving close to the speed of light is certainly a challenge,” said Professor Gavin Lotay, Research Excellence Framework lead for Physics at Surrey’s School of Mathematics and Physics. “But with our partners, we’re confident in building equipment that is fit for the task. The findings could one day help us unlock the mysteries of how reactions at the heart of stars create the elements that make up everything on earth and across the galaxies.