Areg Danagoulian

Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT

The Zoom link for this webinar is: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94603962985

Abstract: Arms control treaties are not sufficient in and of themselves to neutralize the existential threat of the nuclear weapons. Technologies are necessary for verifying the authenticity of the nuclear warheads undergoing dismantlement before counting them towards a treaty partner’s obligation.

We have developed a neutron-based concept that uses observations of isotope-specific nuclear transitions to authenticate a warhead's fissile components. Most actinides such as uranium and plutonium exhibit unique sets of nuclear resonances when interacting with eV neutrons. When measured, these resonances produce isotope-specific features in the spectral data, thus creating an isotopic-geometric “fingerprint” of an object. All information in these measurements is encrypted in the physical domain through a process called physical cryptography. Using Monte Carlo simulations and experimental proof-of-concept measurements these techniques are shown to reveal no isotopic or geometric information about the weapon, while readily detecting hoaxing attempts. The talk will discuss the policy context, the concept of the experimental techniques, along with results from simulation and experimental measurements.

Bio: Areg Danagoulian is Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. He received his PhD in Experimental Nuclear Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he used Compton scattering at 2-6 GeV to probe the proton's internal structure and understand how it couples to external excitations. Following his PhD, he worked at Los Alamos as a postdoctoral researcher, and then as a senior scientist at Passport Systems, Inc. (PSI), where he focused on the development of Prompt Neutron from Photofission (PNPF) to rapidly detect shielded fissionable materials in commercial cargo traffic. Areg's current research interests focus on nuclear physics applications in nuclear security, such areas nuclear nonproliferation, technologies for treaty verification, nuclear safeguards, and cargo security.