CSIRO offers opportunities for students to undertake applied physics research projects at our Lucas
Height laboratories. Honours projects are normally undertaken on a part-time basis over a period of about 6-7 months during the academic year.
A daily stipend is paid to all students.
Honours projects
H1.
Measurement and characterisation of X-ray tube output
H2.
X-ray Diffraction Modelling
About the CSIRO Lucas Heights group
Our research group develops novel instruments for minerals and security industry applications. We focus on carrying new ideas from the basic research stage through to industrial demonstration and commercialisation. Our group comprises a mix of students, postdoctoral fellows, scientists, and mechanical, electronic and software engineers.
Students would join the nucleonics team, who focus on inventing, designing and building X-ray and nuclear-based measurement and imaging systems. Projects involve a diverse range of skills, including:

Computer modelling of radiation, using Monte Carlo tools;

Designing, building and operating experimental equipment;

Using radiation sources and detectors, including X-ray tubes and high-resolution solid-state detectors;

Data collection and analysis using packages such at Matlab; and

Report writing.
Students would be based at CSIRO’s Lucas Heights laboratories.
There are excellent opportunities for interested students to continue their studies by undertaking a
PhD project with the group.

Honours project H1 – measurement and characterisation of X-ray tube output
Supervisors: Dr Yves Van Haarlem ( yves.vanhaarlem@csiro.au
) and Dr James Tickner
(james.tickner@csiro.au)
Skills required: This project would suit a student with a physics or medical physics background. Some experience with data analysis with Matlab, C, or Python would be an advantage.
X-ray tubes are widely used in many scientific, industrial and medical applications as convenient sources of X-ray radiation. Electrons are accelerated using a high voltage supply, typically running at
20-160 kV, and produce X-rays when they strike a metal target.
For analytical applications such as X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction, it is important to know in detail the energy spectrum of X-rays emitted from the tube. This depends on several factors, including the composition and thickness of the metal target, its angle to the electron beam, and whether the X-ray beam is transmitted through the target or reflected from it.
Notwithstanding their widespread use, no one has constructed and benchmarked a comprehensive model to describe X-ray emission from a wide variety of reflection and transmission geometry tubes.
This project aims to remedy this deficit.
The project would cover the following elements:


Learning about the operation of X-ray tubes and high-resolution X-ray detectors
Setting up and running experiments to measure X-ray output and energy spectra from a variety of reflection and transmission target tubes

Using computer modelling techniques to correct the measured energy spectrum for detector artefacts

Comparing experimental results with existing spectrum models taken from the scientific literature

Developing or improving these models to provide a better description

Preparing a paper describing the new model for publication in a scientific journal