The Nuclear Science Division, a part of the Physical Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab, conducts basic research aimed at understanding the structure and interactions of nuclei and the forces of nature as manifested in nuclear matter – topics that align the Division with the national program as elucidated in the 2015 U.S. Nuclear Science Long Range Plan.
The Division has major programs in low energy nuclear science, including nuclear structure physics, studies of the heaviest elements, exotic nuclei and light radioactive beams, weak interactions, and nuclear reactions; relativistic heavy ion physics; nuclear theory; nuclear astrophysics and neutrino properties; data evaluation; and advanced instrumentation. The Division also operates the 88-Inch Cyclotron. The 88-Inch Cyclotron is the home of the Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects Facility (BASEF) and supports a local research program in nuclear science. The Nuclear Science Division continues to exploit new opportunities to enable cutting edge science and provides for science education of the general public and students at all levels.
Recent News
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Berkeley Lab’s Role in Unraveling the Universe’s Origins with ALICE
At the France-Switzerland border lies the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. Among its four flagship experiments, ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is dedicated to observing and analyzing the extreme conditions created by high-energy collisions. LBNL serves as one of two U.S.-based Tier 2 computing centers supporting ALICE…
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Enhancing Nuclear Isomer Populations Using Ultrafast Electron Beams
Researchers from the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics Division and Nuclear Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have demonstrated an enhanced population of isomer states (metastable states of atomic nuclei with a different energy and half-life than other states of the same nucleus) in atomic nuclei using ultrashort electron bunches from a…
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Raúl Briceño awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
Raúl Briceño, a faculty scientist in the Nuclear Theory Group awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers