Homeland Security recognizes Florida Tech professor's research with $589,000 continuation grant

Professor investigates the use of subatomic particles for detecting hidden nuclear materials in cargo

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Department of Homeland Security Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) has approved second-year funding of $589,000 to Marcus Hohlmann, Florida Tech associate professor of physics and space sciences, to continue investigating the use of subatomic particles for detecting hidden nuclear materials in cargo. The funding extends the work Hohlmann began in 2007 with a DNDO investment. The project now totals $818,000.

The effort involves muon radiography. Muons are naturally produced by cosmic rays, which arrive from deep space and constantly bombard the Earth’s atmosphere. High-energy elementary particles, they are much heavier versions of electrons and are difficult to block by concrete or lead. Although muons are deeply penetrating, heavy nuclei that would be present in smuggled nuclear material could deflect them. The bigger the nuclei, the more the muons scatter.

Hohlmann is applying a novel type of micro-pattern particle detector, a gas electron multiplier (GEM). The GEM was initially developed at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics near Geneva, Switzerland.

“Our ultimate plan is to use the GEM detector for particle tracking to measure the deflection of muons so that cargo containers and vehicles crossing United States borders can be screened for nuclear contraband,” said Hohlmann.