Magister Scientiae - MSc (Physics): Recent submissions
Now showing items 81-100 of 171
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Antimicrobial discovery from South African marine algae
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)Antimicrobials are chemical compounds that destroy or inhibit the growth of microorganisms. The majority of these antimicrobials are actually natural products or natural product derived with key examples being the pioneer ... -
Feasibility of nuclear plasma interaction studies with the activation technique
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)Electron-mediated nuclear plasma interactions (NPIs), such as Nuclear Excitation by Electron Capture (NEEC) or Transition (NEET), can have a signi cant impact on nuclear cross sections in High Energy Density Plasmas ... -
Octupole and quadrupole structures in the N=88 nucleus 152Gd
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)The focus for this work is on 152Gd produced by the 150Sm( , 2n)152Gd reaction at a beam energy of 25 MeV. The nucleus has been previously studied for both low spin states and high spin states at di erent energies. The ... -
Tin Catalyst preparation for Silicon Nanowire synthesis
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)Solar cells offer SA an additional energy source. While Si cells are abundantly available they are not at an optimal efficiency and the cost is still high. One technology that can enhance their performance is SiNW. ... -
Investigating the Gamma-ray Strength Function in 74Ge using the Ratio Method
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)An increasing number of measurements reveal the presence of a low-energy enhancement in the gamma-ray strength function (GSF). The GSF, which is the ability of nuclei to absorb or emit rays, provides insight into the ... -
Feasibility of Nuclear Plasma Interaction studies with the Activation Technique
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)Electron-mediated nuclear plasma interactions (NPIs), such as Nuclear Excitation by Electron Capture (NEEC) or Transition (NEET), can have a signi cant impact on nuclear cross sections in High Energy Density Plasmas (HEDPs). ... -
Macroscopic and Microscopic surface features of Hydrogenated silicon thin films
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)An increasing energy demand and growing environmental concerns regarding the use of fossil fuels in South Africa has led to the challenge to explore cheap, alternative sources of energy. The generation of electricity from ... -
Synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles by a green process and the investigation of their physical properties
(University of the Western Cape, 2017)Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a wide and direct semiconductor with a wurtzite crystal structure. Its multifunctionality as the ideal candidate in applications such as blue-UV light emitting diodes, transparent conducting oxide, ... -
Magnetocaloric effect and critical behaviour near the magnetic phase transition temperature in rare-earth compounds
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)Rare-earth intermetallic compounds continue to draw considerable attention, due to their fundamental importance in understanding physical properties and potential applications based on a variety of phenomena. The focus ... -
Point source simulations and Foreground cleaning techniques for HI intensity mapping
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)We created a full sky point source catalogue at frequencies around 1 GHz, including the intensity, polarisation, rotation measure and spectral index of the point source. These values were matched to data where available ... -
Galaxy Clustering as a Probe for Galaxy Evolution in Simulations
(University of the Western Cape, 2017)Studying clustering on small scales (<10Mpc) over a large span of red- shifts allows us to connect galaxies to underlying cosmic large-scale structure, and thereby provide constraints on the physical processes that drive ... -
Coupling of single neutron configurations to collective core excitations in 162Yb using 163Yb
(University of the Western Cape, 2017)In odd-nuclei the single nucleon can couple to collective excitations of its even-even core nucleus . These collective excitations lie within the pairing gap and are therefore the lowest energy excitations of the core. Our ... -
Detecting Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
(University of the Western Cape, 2017)The aim of this project was to develop a technique that allows us to measure the redshift of radio galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization. We achieved this by constructing a parameterization of the 21-cm absorption feature ... -
Validation of Gamma Ray spectrometry process used to determine the radionuclides and radioactivity levels in decorative Granite countertops.
(University of the Western Cape, 2016)Humans are continuously exposed to low level of ionizing radiation, sources include soil, medical treatment and as well as radiation emissions from natural materials like granite rocks. The radiation levels present in these ... -
Determining the Spectroscopic Quadrupole Moment Qs of the 2+1 state in 40Ar
(University of the Western Cape, 2017)The rst reorientation-e ect Coulomb-excitation experiment has been performed at iThemba LABS by bombarding 40Ar beams on a heavy 208Pb target at a \safe" energy of Elab =143.2 MeV. The goal was to determine, the spectroscopic ... -
Post-deposition doping of silicon nanowires
(University of the Western Cape, 2018)Silicon nanowires (Si NWs) continue to demonstrate superior properties to their bulk counterparts, with respect to their morphological and electrical transport properties for the use in photovoltaic (PV) applications. ... -
The design and simulation of a new experimental set up to measure nuclear level lifetimes
(University of the Western Cape, 2016)Measurements of nuclear level lifetimes are an important aspect of experimental nuclear physics. Such measurements determine transition matrix elements for nuclear structure research and also provide the widths of relevant ... -
The curious case of offset bars : markers for a baby galaxy disk or signposts of an interaction with dark matter sub halos?
(University of the Western Cape, 2016)We have used the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S⁴G) as a representative sample of the local universe (total of 2352 galaxies in S⁴G) to make a catalog of offset disk barred galaxies. Using the combined ... -
Characterisation of natural radioactivity in Karoo Basin groundwater prior to shale gas exploration
(University of the Western Cape, 2017)The prospect of unconventional shale-gas development in the Karoo Basin (South Africa) has created the need to obtain baseline data on natural radioactivity in Karoo groundwaters. The Karoo Basin groundwater radiological ... -
Calibration of a NaI (Tl) detector for low level counting of naturally occurring radionuclides in soil
(University of the Western Cape, 2011)The Physics Department at the University of the Western Cape and the Environmental Physics group at iThemba labs have been conducting radiometric studies on both land and water. In this study a 7.5 cm X 7.5 cm NaI (Tl) ...