Robert V. F. Janssens   (630) 252-8426 FAX: (630) 252-6210 [email protected]

Education

B.Sc. Physics	Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium	1969-1973
Ph.D. Nuclear Physics	Catholic University of Louvain "Contribution to the Nuclear Spectroscopy of Erbium Isotopes"	1973-1978

Career

Research Associate	Kernphysisch Versneller Instituut (KVI), University of Groningen, The Netherlands	1978-1980
Physics Professor	E.R.C. (Military Academy), Brussels, Belgium	1980-1981
Assistant Scientist	Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory	1981-1984
Scientist	Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory	1984-1993
Senior Scientist	Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory	1993-present
Chief	Low Energy Nuclear Physics group	1994-2000
Scientific Director	ATLAS facility, & Associate Division Director	2000-2011
Adjunct Professor	Michigan State University	2001-present
Adjunct Professor	University of Notre Dame	2004-present
Director	Physics Division	2008-2017

Research Interests

My main research interests lie in the study of nuclear structure at the limits of stability, in high-Z nuclei and in neutron-rich nuclei. Most recently, we have initiated a program to investigate shell structure in neutron-rich nuclei just above ⁴⁸Ca by combining a number of techniques and facilities. Our approach is one where we combine beta decay and intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation measurements performed at the NSCL with deep inelastic reactions or fusion-evaporation with radioactive targets carried out with Gammasphere at ATLAS. Another program at ATLAS uses Gammasphere to carry out so-called "unsafe" Coulomb excitation experiments on long-lived actinide nuclei in order to determine the important degrees of freedom responsible for the various excitations as a function of spin. I am also fascinated by the impact of structure on nuclear astrophysics processes and am participating in measurements in this area.

Over the years, I have supervised a number of graduate students who were based at ANL for their thesis research: D. Ye (U. Notre Dame, 1991), A.J.M. Plompen (Free U. Amsterdam, 1992), I.G. Bearden (Purdue U., 1993), D. Nisius (Purdue U., 1996), H. Amro (North Carolina State U., 1999), L.T. Brown (Vanderbilt U., 1999), K. Abu Saleem (Illinois Institute of Technology, 2002), X. Wang (U. Notre Dame, on-going).

 

Recent Publications

 “STRENGTH OF OCTUPOLE CORRELATIONS IN THE ACTINIDES: CONTRASTING BEHAVIOR IN THE ISOTONES ²³⁷U AND ²³⁹Pu”,
S. Zhu, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Lett. B 618, 51 (2005)

“ELUSIVE MAGIC NUMBERS”,
Robert V. F. Janssens, Nature 435, 897 (2005)

“YRAST STRUCTURE OF NEUTRON--RICH ⁵³Ti NUCLEUS”,
B. Fornal, S. Zhu, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 72, 044315 (2005)

“PHYSICS OF A RARE ISOTOPE ACCELERATOR”,
D. F. Geesaman, C. K. Gelbke, R. V. F. Janssens, and B. M. Sherrill, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 56, 53 (2006)

“SPECTROSCOPY OF THE ODD-ODD fp-SHELL NUCLEUS ⁵²Sc FROM SECONDARY FRAGMENTATION”,
A. Gade, R. V. F. Janssens,et al., Phys. Rev. C 73, 037309 (2006)

“CROSS-SHELL EXCITATION IN TWO-PROTON KNOCKOUT: STRUCTURE OF ⁵²Ca”,
A. Gade, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 74, 0211302(R) (2006)

 “ONE-NEUTRON KNOCKOUT IN THE VICINITY OF THE N = 32 SUB-SHELL CLOSURE: ⁹Be(⁵⁷Cr,⁵⁶Cr +g)X”,
A. Gade, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 74, 047302 (2006)

“LEVEL STRUCTURE OF THE NEUTRON-RICH ^56,58,60Cr ISOTOPES: SINGLE-PARTICLE AND COLLECTIVE ASPECTS”,
S. Zhu, A. N. Deacon, S. J. Freeman, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 74, 064315 (2006)

“YRAST STRUCTURE OF ⁶⁴Fe”
N. Hoteling, W. B. Walters, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 74, 064313 (2006)

“ONE-PARTICLE EXCITATIONS OUTSIDE THE ⁵⁴Ti SEMI-MAGIC CORE: THE ⁵⁵V AND ⁵⁵Ti YRAST STRUCTURES”
S. Zhu, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Lett. B 650, 135 (2007)

“ YRAST STRUCTURE OF THE NEUTRON-RICH N = 31 ISOTONES ⁵¹Ca AND ⁵²Sc”
B. Fornal, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 77, 014304 (2008)

”ROTATION-ALIGNED COUPLING IN ⁶¹Fe”
N. Hoteling, W. B. Walters, R. V. F. Janssens, et al., Phys. Rev. C 77, 044314 (2008)