Facilities

Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory

Experimental work is conducted, in part, at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). TUNL is a consortium of North Carolina State University, Duke, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. TUNL consists of three main accelerator facilities:

  • The Tandem Accelerator Lab
    Powered by a 10 MV van de graff accelerator, this facility delivers proton, helium, and deuterium beams with energies of up to 40 MeV to a range of target areas.TUNLModel
  • The High Intensity γ-ray Source (HIγS)
    The HIγS facility uses a free electron laser to produce the most instense mono-energetic photon source in the world.higs_full
  • The Laboratory for Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics (LENA)
    The LENA facilty is a dedicated nuclear astrophysics laboratory aimed at employing world-leading detector technology and the world’s most intense proton beam to study small cross sections.
    lena_schem_new

The PULSTAR Reactor, NC State campus

PULSTAR2

We are in the final stages of constructing a world-class, ultracold neutron (UCN) source at the NCSU PULSTAR research reactor. The research program we envision includes neutron beta decay studies, performing optimization studies for the nEDM project, guide and cell development tasks, source development and novel surface interaction experiments.

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center

at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM

Lansce

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, or LANSCE, is an accelerator-based multidisciplinary facility that provides research opportunities in basic and applied research for civilian and defense applications. NC State utilizies the recently constructed ultracold neutron source to perform precision experiments in neutron beta-decay.

The Spallation Neutron Source
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN

SNS_Aerial

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is a pulsed neutron beam facility that is part of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory neutron sciences program. NC State has been involved in the design and development of the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline that is currently being constructed. This facility will house the neutron electric dipole moment experiment.

The NIST Center for Neutron Research,
Gaithersburg, MD

NIST

The NIST Center for Neutron Research is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Its activities focus on providing neutron measurement capabilities to the U.S. research community. NCSU conducts fundamental neutron physics measurements that utilize cold neutrons, in particular a measurement of the neutron lifetime.