Phanthip Jaikaew is a PhD student at Chang Mai University, Thailand, currently working with the RIKEN Nishina Centre for Accelerator-Based Science in Japan. Phanthip's background is in accelerator physics, but her PhD thesis focuses on designing positron counters to enhance the performance of muon beamlines. The aim is for her work to be applied in the next generation of muon spectrometers at J-PARC.

“Initially, my research involved studying muon production and transportation. More recently, I've been focusing on developing simulations of muon beamlines," she explains. “To further progress towards my research goals, I'm now seeking to deepen my understanding of detector technologies."

To learn more about detector technology, Phanthip spent three weeks with the ISIS Detector Systems and Muon groups to give her some hands-on experience.

“I am here to learn how a detector works, and then I can use this in my model to suggest changes to current detector designs for the muon instruments at J-PARC. The aim is then for it to inform new detector designs in the future," she says. “Even just three days into my time at ISIS, I feel like it has been very effective!"

Isao Watanabe, Phanthip's supervisor at RIKEN, agreed that the placement had been a success. “She enjoyed it very much and learnt about many new things. I hope that that opportunity will come soon for her to visit ISIS again before her graduation. We very much value the help and cooperation ISIS has given to support her," he said.