At the centre of every atom there is a nucleus and information about how nuclei behave is relevant to many areas, including medical diagnosis and sometimes therapy, nuclear power etc. Hence it is important that we build up a picture of how nuclei react under different circumstances. For example why are some nuclei stable or, if they do decay, why do they do so by a particular method? Why do nuclei take on different shapes and what are the forces which drive them to these shapes? There are possibly 6000 combinations of neutrons and protonswhich could stick together to form nuclei that would live long enough tobe observed. Of these only about 300 exist in nature and most of ourknowledge of nuclei and their properties comes from the detailedstudy of these 300. Hence in order to test our models of nuclear forces, we have to make and study new systems. Normally when we make a nucleus in an excited state, it decays within a fraction (typically about 1 divided by 10 with 15 noughts after it) of a second . Sometimes a nucleus gets stuck in one particular configuration which then lives for a time longer than 1 thousand millionth of a second. We call these states isomeric and this research proposal is to search for such states which are predicted to exist in the heavy zirconium nuclei. It is not just the finding of these states which is the experimental goal but once they are found, if indeed they do exist, we propose to measure their properties and test them against the model predictions. The results of this comparison will be used to further refine the models so that they can be used to extrapolate beyond the nuclei for which they were developed. This information will therefore give us a clearer view of how nuclei behave and hence will enable us to use them to their maximum potential.

Graphite has been an important material used in nuclear energy since the first reactor at Oak Ridge Laboratory (ORNL) in the USA where it was used as a moderator to slow down neutrons and control the fission process. Graphite is also used in the existing gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) in the UK and is an important material for the next generation of nuclear reactors. However commercially produced graphite produced on a large scale for nuclear applications is not the perfect layered structure that is described in text books but has a complex microstructure which depends on the production process. It is not yet known which production process gives the 'best' type of graphite for nuclear applications as radiation damage depends critically on the type of microstructure. To understand how the different forms of graphite respond to radiation damage, a joint experimental and modelling programme will be undertaken. This will involve international project partners. Different forms of graphite will be produced by a chinese company, Sinosteel which will be irradiated with a neutron source at ORNL and analysed experimentally there, to avoid the problems of shipment of hot material to the UK. Samples of the graphite, produced by Sinosteel will also be irradiated in the UK using ion beams as a surrogate for neutrons and also at GSI Darmstadt in Germany using swift heavy ions. Various forms of experimental analysis will be undertaken at Loughborough, Oxford and Bristol to examine the microstructure and to determine the its effect on physical properties and thus the type of graphite that has the best radiation resistant properties. A complementary computer simulation investigation will help with the understanding of the basic science behind the radiation damage produced by individual collision cascades but will also examine radiation dose effects which have not been the focus so far of computational investigation. The research will be of benefit to the UK both in terms of its application to existing AGRs but will also keep the UK in the loop for new reactor designs which are currently being planned internationally, where graphite is an essential component.

The Centre for Plasma Physics is internationally leading in the exploitation of intense lasers and laser driven ultrafast radiation sources. This platform grant will allow strategic exploitation of the developments seeded in the previous, highly successful platform grant. In particular, the advent of ultrafast laser driven radiation sources ranging from x-rays to particle beams allows the dynamics of the natural world at the shortest timescales and spatially on the nanoscale to be investigated. This is the core theme of this platform grant, which follows on from the success in these areas achieved during the first platform grant. Emerging from this is the development of the worlds most powerful few-cycle (<10fs) laser - the TARANIS-X project. These high-energy, extremely short pulses are a key extension to the TARANIS facility at QUB and will enable cutting edge science. The over-arching strategic goal of this proposal is to fully exploit the new pathways that have been enabled by laser driven radiation sources and to maximize the scientific impact of the recently funded TARANIS-X project (EPSRC Experimental Equipment Call) by fully exploiting the synergies available through close integration of academic staff under the auspices of the proposed NanoRad Platform Grant.