Bryman's muon tomography get funding

Muon geotomography, a new mineral exploration technology, built on the research of UBC physicist Douglas Bryman has received $1.8 million in proof of concept funding from Western Economic Diversification.

The technology is being developed by Advanced Applied Physics Solutions (AAPS) is a nationally designated Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, established at TRIUMF - Canada's national laboratory for research into particle and nuclear physics.

The technique is similar in principle to CAT scans which use x-rays to make images of the body. High energy cosmic ray muons are attenuated in matter allowing images of structures within the earth such as dense ore bodies to be obtained using an array of underground sensors.

AAPS is completing first round proof-of-principle tests in collaboration with NVI-Breakwater at its Myra Falls mining operations on Vancouver Island, as well with TRIUMF, university partners, the Geological Survey of Canada and BC Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Douglas Bryman is the J. B. Warren Chair Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC. His research has focused on particle physics through the study of rare decays of muons, pions, and kaons at TRIUMF and Brookhaven National Laboratory. He was recently awarded the 2011 W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics.

See also: Newswire.ca story.
UBC Science News release