Research Interests

Jack Silano's research focuses primarily on gaining insight into the nuclear fission process through a variety of experimental techniques including gamma-ray spectroscopy and neutron detection. His thesis work probed the structure of the fission barrier in isotopes of uranium and thorium by measuring the fission cross sections, prompt neutron multiplicities, and neutron angular distributions for photofission at sub-barrier excitation energies. Since joining LLNL, he has worked on measuring increasingly short-lived fission product yields, helping to develop a target transfer system (RABITTS) that can detect fission products with half-lives of less than 1 second. In addition to his work on fission, Silano uses gamma-ray beams to investigate nuclear structure relevant to nuclear astrophysics and the nuclear equation of state.

Ph.D., Physics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2016

M.Sc., Physics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013

B.A., Physics, State University of New York at Geneseo, 2011

1. X. Li, M. W. Ahmed, A. Banu, C. Bartram, B. Crowe, E. J. Downie, M. Emamian, G. Feldman, H. Gao, D. Godagama, H. W. Grießhammer, C. R. Howell, H. J. Karwowski, D. P. Kendellen, M. A. Kovash, K. K. H. Leung, D. Markoff, S. Mikhailov, R. E. Pywell, M. H. Sikora, J. A. Silano, R. S. Sosa, M. C. Spraker, G. Swift, P. Wallace, H. R. Weller, C. S. Whisnant, Y. K. Wu, and Z. W. Zhao. “Compton scattering from ⁴He at the TUNL HIγS facility”, Physical Review C 101, 034618 (2020).
2. A. Banu, E.G. Meekins, J.A. Silano, H.J. Karwowski, and S. Goriely. “Photoneutron reaction cross section measurements on ⁹⁴Mo and ⁹⁰Zr relevant to the p-process nucleosynthesis”, Physical Review C 99, 025802 (2019).
3. J.A. Silano and H.J. Karwowski. “Near-barrier photofission in ²³²Th and ²³⁸U”, Physical Review C 98, 054609 (2018).
4. S. Banerjee, S. Chen, N. Powers, D. Haden, C. Liu, G. Golovin, J. Zhang, B. Zhao, S. Clarke, S. Pozzi, J. Silano, H. Karwowski and D. Umstadter. "Compact source of narrowband and tunable X-rays for radiography", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 350, 106-111 (2015).
5. C.T. Angell, R. Hajima, T. Hayakawa, T. Shizuma, H.J. Karwowski, J. Silano. "Demonstration of a transmission nuclear resonance fluorescence measurement for a realistic radioactive waste canister scenario", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 347, 11-19 (2015).
6. C. T. Angell, R. Hajima, T. Hayakawa, T. Shizuma, H. J. Karwowski, and J. Silano. "Validating resonance properties using nuclear resonance fluorescence", Physical Review C 90, 054315 (2014).
7. C. Liu, G. Golovin, S. Chen, J. Zhang, B. Zhao, D. Haden, S. Banerjee, J.A. Silano, H.J. Karwowski, and D. Umstadter. "Generation of 9 MeV γ-rays by all-laser-driven Compton scattering with second-harmonic laser light", Optics Letters 39, 4132-4135 (2014).
8. J. Silano et al. "Selective activation with all-laser-driven Thomson γ-rays", Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security, 429-434 (Waltham, MA, 2013).