Laboratory of Photonuclear Reactions

The Laboratory of Photonuclear Reactions was one of three laboratories of the Lebedev Physical Institute, on the basis of which the Institute of Nuclear Research was formed in 1970. Academician Vladimir Iosifovich Veksler (1907–1966) was at the origins of the LFNR. The principle of autophasing, discovered by him in 1944, became the basis for the creation of the first in the Soviet Union (and the third in the world) electron synchrotron S-3 with an energy of 30 MeV, on the basis of which a reference and then a photonuclear laboratory was formed.

The first head of the laboratory of photonuclear reactions in 1959 was Lyubov Efremovna Lazareva (1915-1994). Her name is inextricably linked with the development of world photonuclear science. She is the author of seminal works on photonuclear reactions, which have become classics.

After the transfer of LFNR to the Institute for Nuclear Research in 1970 under the leadership of L.E. Lazareva carried out a radical modernization of the accelerator base of the laboratory. On her initiative and under her direct leadership, a linear electron accelerator was built, which made it possible to significantly expand the range of physical research.

In 1986, the laboratory was headed by a talented theoretical physicist, Professor Rudolf Amayakovich Eramzhyan (1937-1998). His scientific interests concentrated around a large-scale phenomenon predicted and experimentally discovered at the Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University—configuration splitting of a giant dipole resonance.

Since 1998, the laboratory was headed by Vladimir Georgievich Nedorezov (1946-2021). His early work was devoted to the discovery of a nonlinear quantum electrodynamic effect—non-compliance with the principle of charge invariance in the total photoabsorption cross sections of actinide nuclei. In recent years, Vladimir Georgievich has devoted a lot of time and attention to a new scientific direction called “Nuclear Photonics”, in particular, the development of laser-plasma gamma sources of very high pulse power, making it possible to study various nonlinear quantum electrodynamic effects, for example, in Compton scattering . He always paid great attention to applied research. Among them is the development of X-ray detectors for use in medical practice, which make it possible to reduce the radiation load on the patient during X-ray examinations by an order of magnitude.

The laboratory staff carried out a number of studies, including applied ones:

• studies of various aspects of the theory of photonuclear reactions: effects of optical anisotropy of atomic nuclei, generalized coupled channel method (B.A. Tulupov);
• study of configuration splitting of giant dipole resonance (R.A. Eramzhyan);
• detection of a nonlinear quantum electrodynamic effect—non-compliance with the charge invariance principle in the total photoabsorption cross sections of actinide nuclei in the region of nucleon resonances (L.E. Lazareva, V.G. Nedorezov, etc.);
• "Nuclear photonics", in particular, the development of laser-plasma gamma sources of very high pulse power, making it possible to study various nonlinear quantum electrodynamic effects, for example, in Compton scattering;
• installations for the spin orientation of atomic nuclei (NORD and NORD-2) with world-record performance characteristics were developed and created;
• development of X-ray detectors for use in medical practice (V.G. Nedorezov, N.V. Rudnev, A.A. Turinge, etc.) allowing an order of magnitude reduction in the radiation load on the patient during radiographic examinations. The development is protected by a patent of the Russian Federation and awarded a gold medal and diploma from the 5th Moscow International Salon of Innovations and Investments “Innovations-2011”, a gold medal from an international exhibition in Germany, and a diploma from the Expocenter;
• research in the interests of and jointly with Rosatom enterprises, aimed at using radiation techniques to increase the efficiency of uranium extraction from difficult-to-open ores (G.V. Solodukhov (1935-2020), V.I. Ponomarev, etc.);

- Nuclear photonics development of laser-plasma gamma sources of very high pulse power, making it possible to study various nonlinear quantum electrodynamic effects, for example, in Compton scattering, which, due to their unique parameters, allow solving a number of important fundamental and applied problems. At the same time, laser-plasma sources do not compete with traditional (accelerator) sources, but complement them.

- Pygmy resonance - study of photonuclear reactions near the threshold. The relevance of such research is associated with the possibility of obtaining new fundamental knowledge about the nature of nuclear matter, as well as the possibility of solving various applied problems.

- International experiments on the photoproduction of strange mesons in the range of photon energies up to 4 GeV, experiments on the study of exclusive reactions of meson photoproduction and nuclear multifragmentation in Germany (A.L. Polonsky and others).

The International Seminar on Electromagnetic Interactions of Nuclears (EMIN) is held regularly.