Scientific objectives of the proposal follow recommendation for research directions of the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NUPECC), an Expert Committee of the European Science Foundation. More specifically, research objectives of the proposed Center of excellence include:
1) In research of ion beam interaction with matter, to explore processes related to ion impact to materials surface, which are still not well described (such as secondary electron emission and ion desorption), and which strongly depend on projectile type and energy. This is relevant for ion beam analysis techniques, which are sensitive to molecular composition. In the study of processes of charge collection in radiation detector materials, ion induced defects that degrade charge transport properties could also be beneficial and of technological importance as well.
2) In materials research, investigations will be focused on nanoscale changes in the materials followed upon the ion impact. Formation of surface nano-features and modifications of 2D materials (graphene) will be induced by single MeV heavy ions, while higher fluences will be required for investigations of processes that drive ion assisted assembly of nanostructured materials. Future research will clearly benefit from strong momentum those two recently opened research directions have.
3) In nuclear physics research to enlarge understanding of collective phenomena in nuclear structure (nucleon pairing and clustering) and reaction dynamics (multi-nucleon transfers at low energy), interaction between deformed and loosely bound nuclei, structure of neutron-rich nuclei and light nuclei reactions with significant effect on astrophysical phenomena. Important goal is enlarged contribution in development and testing of research infrastructure, including those for experiments at large international laboratories, which is closely related to objectives of other two research groups.