Nuclear Research at Duke

In the News & Comment article “Physicist sues Duke over control of lab” by Eliot Marshall (21 Nov., [p. 1393][1]), a claim in the legal brief of John Madey is summarized as follows: “nuclear physicists on Duke [University's] faculty who are short of funds are scheming to ‘take control of the MFEL [Medical Free Electron Lasar] project and to remove Dr. Madey from his position of authority in order to facilitate their nuclear research plans.’” Madey's claim has no basis in fact. It was Madey who encouraged his colleagues at the Duke Free-Electron Laser Laboratory (DFELL) and nuclear physicists from Duke's faculty to work together in order to produce high-intensity gamma-ray beams through Compton backscattering of FEL photons from high-energy electrons using the facilities at the DFELL and using detection systems provided by the Duke faculty. Madey was part of the collaboration and helped spread the news of the first successful gamma-ray production at the DFELL around the world. He was a co-author of the article in Physical Review Letters ([1][2]) which reported this result. Madey also encouraged his colleagues at the DFELL and nuclear physicists at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) to write a proposal with the aim of seeking funds from the Department of Energy (DOE) to support an upgrade of the existing electron storage ring and the existing accelerator at the DFELL to make it possible to produce gamma-ray beams of higher energy than currently possible with the existing equipment. Such a proposal has recently been submitted to the DOE. Madey, through his former Associate Director, requested that the TUNL physicists define the space needed in the planned new addition to the DFELL in order to carry out the proposed nuclear research program. Based on mutual agreement with Madey, a “gamma vault” was made part of the new building design. The Duke University nuclear physicists conduct their research as part of TUNL's basic research program in nuclear physics. TUNL is jointly staffed by nuclear physicists from Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University at Raleigh. The TUNL program has been well funded for more than 25 years by DOE and its predecessors; this funding was recently extended for 3 years at the requested level. 1. [↵][3]1. V. N. Litvinenko 2. et al. , Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4569 (1997). [OpenUrl][4][CrossRef][5][Web of Science][6] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.278.5342.1393a [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [4]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DPhys.%2BRev.%2BLett.%26rft.volume%253D78%26rft.spage%253D4569%26rft.atitle%253DPHYS%2BREV%2BLETT%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1103%252FPhysRevLett.78.4569%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [5]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.4569&link_type=DOI [6]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=A1997XE57100010&link_type=ISI