ENLIGHT Courses

Nuclear Methods in Material Research

The term 'nuclear methods' refers here to experimental tools in materials physics in which stable or radioactive atomic nuclei play a key role. Such methods are valuable for studying structural or magnetic properties of (defects in) materials at an atomic scale.

About the course

Content

  • Phenomenological description of an atomic nucleus: radius, spin, parity, electric and magnetic multipole moments, coupling of angular momenta, radioactive decay, multipole radiation.  
  • Hyperfine interactions and their relation with various energy scales in atoms.  
  • Multipole expansion of the charge-charge and current-current interaction between a nucleus and an electron distribution.  
  • Magnetic hyperfine interaction, electric quadrupole interaction, monopole and quadrupole shift.  
  • Experimental methods based on hyperfine interactions: nuclear magnetic resonance, nuclear quadrupole resonance, electron paramagnetic resonance, laser spectroscopy, low-temperature nuclear orientation, NMR on oriented nuclei, Mössbauer spectroscopy, perturbed angular correlation, resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation. 
  •  Academic, industrial and analytic applications of these methods.  

Learning outcomes

  1. Explaining the relations and differences between the major nuclear methods.  
  2. Explaining the physical background behind the major nuclear methods. 
  3. Being aware of which properties can and which cannot be measured by nuclear methods. 
  4. Grasping the relevant information from research papers that report on experiments with nuclear methods.  
  5. Being able to read and interpret simple experimental spectra obtained by nuclear methods.  
  6. Being aware of the range of applications of nuclear methods.  

Teaching methods

Lecture, Independent work 

Extra information on the teaching methods: This course is taught according to a flipped classroom method: you receive every week a set of video and text files for self-study, together with a set of questions and tasks. The answers have to be uploaded 24h before the weekly class session. During this class session, there will be no traditional lecture. Instead, we zoom in on misconceptions that were revealed by the tasks, and we provide ample time to remediate problems you or your fellow students might have encountered during the past week.  It is your choice whether you attend this feedback session in the lecture room, via a livestream, or whether you watch a recorded version later. This course is accessible as an open online course for anyone, worldwide, via www.hyperfinecourse.org. Whenever possible, we try to establish interactions between students in Ghent and volunteering participants on other continents. 

Assessment

Assessment moments: end-of-term and continuous assessment 
Examination methods in case of end-of-term assessment during the first examination period: Oral assessment, Written assessment
Examination methods in case of end-of-term assessment during the resit examination period: Oral assessment, Written assessment
Examination methods in case of continuous assessment: Participation, Assignment  
Possibilities of resit in case of permanent assessment: examination during the second examination period is possible
Extra information on the examination methods: You are expected to submit weekly a report with your answers to the questions/tasks of that week. Your effort in doing so will be evaluated, not the correctness of your answers. At the end of the course there is a combined written/oral examination, and then the correctness matters. 

Calculation of the examination mark:

  • weekly report: 20% (per non-submitted report, 5% is subtracted - with a floor of 0%)  
  • exam: 80%  

You have to pass on the item 'exam' in order to pass for the course. If you pass the exam, your points for the exam (on 16) are added to your points for the weekly reports (on 4) to get a final score on 20. In case you don't pass the exam (e.g. 7/16) then your points obtained for the weekly reports (e.g. 3/4) are added only to a maximum of 9 (e.g. 7+2=9, 1 point is discarded). 

Lecturers

Cottenier, Stefaan: lecturer-in-charge 

Course dates

This course takes place in the second semester of academic year 2025-2026: 

  • Educational activities: February 9 to May 16, 2026 
  • Catch-up activities: May 18 to May 23, 2026 
  • Easter Recess: April 6 to April 18, 2026 
  • Examination period: May 26 to July 4, 2026 
  • Resit Examination period:  August 17 to September 12, 2026 

The course is delivered fully online in an asynchronous format with pre-recorded lectures. Support is offered through weekly live feedback webinars (also recorded) and a Q&A forum monitored by the teacher.

  • Entry requirements: basics of modern physics
  • Type: virtual course
  • Level: Master
  • Host: Ghent University
  • Focus area: other area
  • Study Field: Science and Technology
  • Course dates: 9 Feb - 4 July 2026
  • Apply by: 19 December 2025
  • ECTS: 6
  • Registration status: Open
  • Number of places available: unlimited