IRONSIDE

The goal of IRONSIDE is to develop conceptually new scintillator detectors based on engineered nanoscale materials for ground-breaking progress in radiation detection technologies for diverse fundamental and applied areas spanning from high energy physics, homeland security and medical diagnostics to industrial, nuclear and environmental monitoring. The core of our approach is the use of nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) as nanoscintillators capable of converting most of the released energy into light through efficient excitonic processes. The breakthroughs will consist of devising and practically realising QDs with efficient scintillation, suppressed reabsorption and/or fast scintillation time and obtain perfect compatibility with polymeric hosts, to achieve high-density optical-grade nanocomposites with loss-free light outcoupling. The materials science/engineering efforts will be integrated with photophysical investigations conducted by combining advanced optical and radiometric spectroscopies. Radiation hardness studies up to extreme levels of radiation will be carried out and will be complemented by structural and defect studies. 

IRONSIDE will introduce revolutionary nanotechnology-based concepts to radiation detectors combining high energy resolution, efficiency and stability with unmatched mass scalability and compositional/shape flexibility. The results will open the way to an unprecedented class of nanotechnological radiation detectors and will advance our understanding of the chemistry and physics of nanoscale materials to unexplored territories, far beyond our current knowledge.

Participants: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, CNR-IMEM. Sub-unit: ENEA Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Casaccia.