Steven W. Yates | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

Steven W. Yates

Professor of Chemistry

Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor

Contact Information

yates@uky.edu

Research Interests

Nuclear Chemistry and Nuclear Structure

Affiliations

Chemistry
Physics & Astronomy
Radionuclear
Nuclear Physics

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Research

For many years it has been recognized that nuclei in certain mass regions exhibit stable deformations, while those in other regions are essentially spherical. The shell model, an independent-particle model, has been used to explain the properties of spherical nuclei by assigning orbitals to each of the neutrons and protons of the nucleus. These orbitals are then filled in order of increasing energy, similar to the "aufbau" process in atoms. With this approach, it is possible to understand the exceptional stability of nuclei containing closed shells (or magic numbers), i.e., nuclei composed of 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126 neutrons or protons. In nuclei at or near closed shells, we are examining multiphonon vibrational excitations of quadrupole and octupole types.

Away from these closed shells, collective nuclear motions dominate over independent-particle modes. The best evidence for collective excitations is the rotational nuclear level structure observed for nuclei of the rare earth and actinide regions. Sequences of low-lying states closely obeying the quantum relationship for a rigid rotor occur and are reminiscent of the rotational levels known for diatomic molecules. For such open-shell nuclei, ample evidence has long been available to confirm that these nuclei have an intrinsic deformed shape. In measurements on deformed nuclei, we have sought to identify two-phonon states, to characterize "scissors mode" and "mixed-symmetry" excitations in which the neutrons and protons oscillate independently, and to search for other exotic modes.

In addition to searching for new degrees of freedom in nuclei, we have focussed on the complex transition between deformed and spherical shapes in our studies at the Accelerator Laboratory at the University of Kentucky. We have extensively utilized the inelastic neutron scattering (INS) reaction and gamma-ray emission spectroscopy to examine many nuclei. INS, coupled with detection of the de-exciting gamma rays, is distinctly superior to other nuclear reactions for the study of low-lying, low-spin nuclear states. With this method, we can obtain excellent sensitivity for observing weakly excited states, and the INS reaction is not restricted by spin and parity selection rules. We have developed methods for measuring short nuclear lifetimes with the Doppler-shift attenuation method, and gamma-gamma coincidence measurements are now performed routinely. We are currently exploiting these unique advantages to examine a variety of structural features of nuclei and to search for new, exotic nuclear modes.

Awards and Honors

1972-1973 Procter and Gamble Fellow
1981 University of Kentucky (UK) Research Foundation Award
1983 Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) Teacher of the Year
1985 Chairman, Lexington Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS)
1987-1989 Councilor, Lexington Section of ACS
1992-1993 University Research Professor, UK
1992 Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Teaching, UK
1992 Chairman, Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, ACS
1993-1994 Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts and Sciences, UK
1994 William B. Sturgill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education, UK
1995-2003 Councilor, Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, ACS
2002 Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
2004-present Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UK
2005-2009 Chair, Department of Chemistry, UK
2006 Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry, ACS
2008-2013 Councilor, Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, ACS
2008-present Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, UK
2009 Fellow of the American Chemical Society, Member of the Inaugural Class of ACS Fellows
2010 Award in Recognition of Fifteen Years of Service on the Council of the American Chemical Society
2012 Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium (SECAC) Faculty Achievement Award, Inaugural UK Representative
2014-2015 Interim Chair, Department of Chemistry, UK
2016 Fellow of the American Physical Society
2018 W. Frank Kinard Distinguished Service Award, Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, ACS
2022 Distinguished Service or Engagement Award, UK College of Arts & Sciences

Visiting Appointments

NSF Undergraduate Research Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, summer 1967
Visiting Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, summer 1976
Gastwissenschaftler, Kernforschungsanlage Juelich, Germany, 1981-1982
Participating Guest, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 1984-2005
Visiting Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 1989-1990
Guest Scientist and Visiting Professor, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1997, 1998
Visiting Scientist, TRIUMF, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2009-2010

Graduate Training

Nuclear Chemistry and Radiochemistry

Selected Publications

Selected Publications:

L.J. Evitts, A.B. Garnsworthy, T. Kibédi, J. Smallcombe, M.W. Reed, B.A. Brown, A.E. Stuchbery, G.J. Lane, T.K. Eriksen, A. Akber, B. Alshahrani, M. de Vries, M.S.M. Gerathy, J.D. Holt, B.Q. Lee, B.P. McCormick, A.J. Mitchell, M. Moukaddam, S. Mukhopadhyay, N. Palalani, T. Palazzo, E.E. Peters, A.P.D. Ramirez, S.R. Stroberg, T. Tornyi, and S.W. Yates, “Identification of significant E0 strength in the 2₂⁺ → 2₁⁺ transitions of ^58,60,62Ni,” Phys. Lett. B 779, 396-401 (2018).
J.R. Vanhoy, S.H. Liu, S.F. Hicks, B.M. Combs, B.P. Crider, A.J. French, E.A. Garza, T. Harrison, S.L. Henderson, T.J. Howard, M.T. McEllistrem, S. Nigam, R.L. Pecha, E.E. Peters, F.M. Prados-Estévez, A.P.D. Ramirez, B.G. Rice, T.J. Ross, Z.C. Santonil, L.C. Sidwell, J.L. Steves, B.K. Thompson, and S.W. Yates, “⁵⁴Fe Neutron Elastic and Inelastic Scattering Differential Cross Sections from 2-6 MeV,” Nucl. Phys. A972, 107–120 (2018).
P. E. Garrett, J. L. Wood, and S. W. Yates, “Critical Insights into Nuclear Collectivity from Complementary Nuclear Spectroscopic Methods,” Phys. Scr. 93, 063001 (2018).
E.E. Peters, P. Van Isacker, A. Chakraborty, B.P. Crider, A. Kumar, S.H. Liu, M.T. McEllistrem, C.V. Mehl, F.M. Prados Estévez, T.J. Ross, J.L. Wood, and S.W. Yates, “Seniority structure of¹³⁶Xe₈₂”, Phys. Rev. C 98, 034302 (2018).
M. Moukaddam, J. Smallcombe, A.B. Garnsworthy, C. Andreoiu, G.C. Ball, J. Berean-Dutcher, D. Bishop, C. Bolton, R. Caballero-Folch, M. Constable, D.S. Cross, T.E. Drake, R. Dunlop, L.J. Evitts, P.E. Garrett, S. Georges, G. Hackman, S. Hallam, J. Henderson, R. Henderson R. Krücken, L. Kurchaninov, A. Kurkjian, B. Olaizola, P. Lu, J. Park, E.E. Peters, J.L. Pore, E.T. Rand, P. Ruotsalainen, J.K. Smith, D. Southall, C.E. Svensson, M. Williams, S.W. Yates, and T. Zidar, “In-beam conversion electron spectroscopy with the SPICE detector,” Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A 905, 180-187 (2018).
J. Smallcombe, J. Berean-Dutcher, M. Moukaddam, A.B. Garnsworthy, C. Andreoiu, R. Caballero-Folch, T.E. Drake, L.J. Evitts, G. Hackman, J. Henderson, A. Kurkjian, B. Olaizola, E.E. Peters, D. Southall, P. Ruotsalainen, C.E. Svensson, M. Wiens, S.W. Yates, and T. Zidar, “E0 transition strengths in ¹¹⁰Pd,” Eur. Phys. J. A 54, 165 (2018).
A.B. Garnsworthy, C.E. Svensson, M. Bowry, R. Dunlop, A.D. MacLean, B. Olaizola, J.K. Smith, F.A. Ali, C. Andreoiu, J.E. Ash, W.H. Ashfield, G.C. Ball, T. Ballast, C. Bartlett, Z. Beadle, P.C. Bender, N. Bernier, S. Bhattacharjee, H. Bidaman, V. Bildstein, D. Bishop, P. Boubel, R. Braid, D. Brennan, T. Bruhn, C. Burbadge, A. Cheeseman, R. Churchman, S. Ciccone, R. Caballero-Folch, D.S. Cross, S. Cruz, B. Davids, A. Diaz Varela, I. Dillmann, M.R. Dunlop, L.J. Evitts, F. Garcia, P.E. Garrett, S. Georges, S. Gillespie, R. Gudapati, G. Hackman, B. Hadinia, S. Hallam, J. Henderson, S.V. Ilyushkin, B. Jigmeddorj, A.I. Kilic, D. Kisliuk, R. Kokke, K. Kuhn, R. Kruecken, M. Kuwabara, A.T. Laffoley, R. Lafleur, K.G. Leach, J.R. Leslie, Y. Linn, C. Lim, E. MacConnachie, A.R. Mathews, E. McGee, J. Measures, D. Miller, W.J. Mills, W. Moore, D. Morris, L.N. Morrison, M. Moukaddam, C.R. Natzke, K. Ortner, E. Padilla-Rodal, O. Paetkau, J. Park, H.P. Patel, C.J. Pearson, E. Peters, E.E. Peters, J.L. Pore, A.J. Radich, M.M. Rajabali, E.T. Rand, U. Rizwan, P. Ruotsalainen, Y. Saito, F. Sarazin, B. Shaw, J. Smallcombe, D. Southall, K. Starosta, M. Ticu, E. Timakova, J. Turko, R. Umashankar, C. Unsworth, Z.M. Wang, K. Whitmore, S. Wong, S.W. Yates, E.F. Zganjar, and T. Zidar, “ The GRIFFIN Facility for Decay-Spectroscopy Studies at TRIUMF-ISAC,” Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A 918, 9-29 (2018).
S. Mukhopadhyay, B. P. Crider, B. A. Brown, A. Chakraborty, A. Kumar, M. T. McEllistrem, E. E. Peters, F. M. Prados-Estévez, and S. W. Yates, “Inelastic Neutron Scattering Studies of ⁷⁶Se,” Phys. Rev. C 99, 014313 (2019).
C.M. Petrache, J.-M. Régis, C. Andreoiu, M. Spieker, C. Michelagnoli, P.E. Garrett, A. Astier, E. Dupont, F. H. Garcia, S. Guo, G. Häfner, V. Karayonchev, Y.-H. Kim, L. Knaa, U. Köster, B.F. Lv, P. Mutti, K. Ortner, S. Prill, N. Saed-Samii, W. Urban, J.R. Vanhoy, K. Whitmore, J. Wisniewski, S.W. Yates,and A. Zilges, “Collectivity of the 2p ̶ 2h proton intruder band of ¹¹⁶Sn, Phys. Rev. C 99, 024303 (2019).
L.J. Evitts, A.B. Garnsworthy, T. Kibédi, J. Smallcombe, M.W. Reed, A.E. Stuchbery, G.J. Lane, T.K. Eriksen, A. Akber, B. Alshahrani, B.A. Brown, M. de Vries, M.S.M. Gerathy, J.D. Holt, B.Q. Lee, B.P. McCormick, A.J. Mitchell, M. Moukaddam, S. Mukhopadhyay, N. Palalani, T. Palazzo, E.E. Peters, A.P.D. Ramirez, S.R. Stroberg, T. Tornyi, and S.W. Yates, “E0 transition strength in stable Ni isotopes,” Phys. Rev. C 99, 024306 (2019).
E. E. Peters, A. E. Stuchbery, A. Chakraborty, B. P. Crider, S. F. Ashley, A. Kumar, M. T. McEllistrem, F. M. Prados-Estévez, and S. W. Yates, “Emerging collectivity from the nuclear structure of ¹³²Xe: Inelastic neutron scattering studies and shell-model calculations, Phys. Rev. C 99, 064321 (2019).
J. Heideman, D. Pérez-Loureiro, R. Grzywacz, C.R. Thornsberry, J. Chan, L.H. Heilbronn, S.K. Neupane, K. Schmitt, , M.M. Rajabali, A.R. Engelhardt, C.W. Howell, L.D. Mostella, J.S. Owens, S.C. Shadrick, E.E. Peters, A.P.D. Ramirez, S.W. Yates, and K. Vaigneur, Conceptual design and first results for a neutron detector with interaction localization capabilities,” Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A 946, 162528 (2019).
P.E. Garrett, T.R. Rodríguez, A. Diaz Varela, K.L. Green, J. Bangay, A. Finlay, R.A.E. Austin, G.C. Ball, D.S. Bandyopadhyay, V. Bildstein, S. Colosimo, D.S. Cross, G.A. Demand, P. Finlay, A.B. Garnsworthy, G.F. Grinyer, G. Hackman, B. Jigmeddorj, J. Jolie, W.D. Kulp, K.G. Leach, A.C. Morton, J.N. Orce, C.J. Pearson, A.A. Phillips, A.J. Radich, E.T. Rand, M.A. Schumaker, C.E. Svensson, C. Sumithrarachchi, S. Triambak, N. Warr, J. Wong, J.L. Wood, and S.W. Yates, “Multiple Shape Coexistence in ^110,112Cd,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 142502 (2019).
P.E. Garrett, T.R. Rodríguez, A. Diaz Varela, K.L. Green, J. Bangay, A. Finlay, R.A.E. Austin, G.C. Ball, D.S. Bandyopadhyay, V. Bildstein, S. Colosimo, D.S. Cross, G.A. Demand, P. Finlay, A.B. Garnsworthy, G.F. Grinyer, G. Hackman, B. Jigmeddorj, J. Jolie, W.D. Kulp, K.G. Leach, A.C. Morton, J.N. Orce, C.J. Pearson, A.A. Phillips, A.J. Radich, E.T. Rand, M.A. Schumaker, C.E. Svensson, C. Sumithrarachchi, S. Triambak, N. Warr, J. Wong, J.L. Wood, and S.W. Yates, “Shape Coexistence and multiparticle-multihole structures in ^110,112Cd, Phys. Rev. C 101, 044302 (2020).
J. Sinclair, M. Scheck, S. W. Finch, Krishichayan, U. Gayer, W. Tornow, G. Battaglio, T. Beck, R. Chapman, M. M. R. Chishti, C. Fransen, R. Gonzales, E. Hoemann, J. Isaak, R. V. F. Janssens, D. A. Jaroszynski, S. Johnson, M. D. Jones, J. M. Keatings, N. Kelly, J. Kleemann, D. Little, B. Löher, K. R. Mashtakov, M. Müscher, D. O’Donnell, O. Papst, E. E. Peters, D. Savran, P. Schilling, R. Schwengner, P. Spagnoletti, M. Spieker, V. Werner, J. Wilhemy, O. Wieland, S. W. Yates, and A. Zilges, “Firm spin and parity assignment for high-lying low-spin levels in stable Si isotopes,” Eur. Phys. J. A 56, 105 (2020).
J.K. Smith, A.B. Garnsworthy, J.L. Pore, C. Andreoiu, A.D. MacLean, A. Chester, Z. Beadle, G.C. Ball, P.C. Bender, V. Bildstein, R. Braid, A. Diaz Varela, R. Dunlop, L.J. Evitts, P.E. Garrett, G. Hackman, S.V. Ilyushkin, B. Jigmeddorj, K. Kuhn, A.T. Laﬀoley, K.G. Leach, D. Miller, W.J. Mills, W. Moore, M. Moukaddam, B. Olaizola, E.E. Peters, A.J. Radich, E.T. Rand, F. Sarazin, C.E. Svensson, S.J. Williams,and S.W. Yates, “Spectroscopic study of ⁴⁷Ca from the β⁻ decay of ⁴⁷K,” Phys. Rev. C 102, 054314 (2020).
S.F. Hicks, A.E. Stuchbery, T.H. Churchill, D. Bandyopadhyay, B.R. Champine, B.J. Coombes, C.M. Davoren, J.C. Ellis, W.M. Faulkner, S.R. Lesher, J.M. Mueller, S. Mukhopadhyay, J.N. Orce, M.D. Skubis, J.R. Vanhoy, and S.W. Yates, “Nuclear structure of ¹³⁰Te from inelastic neutron scattering and shell model analysis,” Phys. Rev. C 105, 024329 (2022).
A.P.D. Ramirez, E.E. Peters, J.R. Vanhoy, S.F. Hick, L.A. Alasagas, D.K. Alcorn-Dominguez, S.T. Block, S.T. Byrd, E.A. Chouinard, B.M. Combs, B.P. Crider, E.C. Derdyn, L. Downes, J.A. Erlanson, S.E. Evans, A.J. French, E.A. Garza, J. Girgis, T.D. Harrison, S.L. Henderson, T.J. Howard, D.T. Jackson, L.J. Kersting, A. Kumar, S.H. Liu, C.J. Lueck, E.M. Lyons, P.J. McDonough, M.T. McEllistrem, T.J. Morin, S. Mukhopadhyay, T.A. Nguyen, M. Nickel, S. Nigam, R.L. Pecha, , J. Potter, F.M. Prados-Estévez, B.G. Rice, T.J. Ross, Z.C. Santonil, J. Schneiderjan, L.C. Sidwell, A.J. Sigillito, J.L. Steves, B.K. Thompson, D.W. Watts, Y. Xiao, and S.W. Yates, “Neutron Elastic and Inelastic Scattering Differential Cross Sections on Carbon,” Nucl. Phys. A 1023, 122446 (2022).
A.P.D. Ramirez, E.E. Peters, S. Mukhopahyay, M.T. McEllistrem, S.W. Yates, E.C. Derdeyn, S.F. Hicks, E.M. Lyons, T.J. Morin, and J.R. Vanhoy, “Neutron elastic and inelastic cross section measurements on Silicon from 0.8−8 MeV”, Nucl. Phys. A 1024, 122474 (2022).