Group Barbecue at Thomas's Place (Summer, 2025)
From left: Thomas, Riya, Simon, Samin, Frédéric, Jasmine, Regan, Ethan, Marharyta, David, Alfredo, Naman,
Iskender, Soud, Hussain.
Group Members
Senior Members
Thomas Brunner
Rutherford Physics Building Office 340 Phone:
(514) 398 8972
Click here for Thomas's Webpage.
Iskender Isikbay
Helping assemble the Large Scale SiPM Test Stand.
Fran Spidle
Takes care of administrative tasks, organizing events and helps with the financial bookkeeping of BvL activities.
Naman Walia
Helping assemble the Large Scale SiPM Test Stand.
Tsvetelin Totev
Tsvetelin has been a member of the Brunner Neutrino Lab since 2017, shortly before starting his Master's degree in 2018. He obtained his MSc for his work on the development, and proof of concept, of a controlled vacuum ultraviolet electroluminescent light source using an external flash lamp to produce xenon scintillation for SiPM characterization. Nowadays he answers for a variety of the lab's software and hardware needs. He is a member of the LoLX and nEXO and XLZD collaborations.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Frédéric Girard
Rutherford Physics Building Office 338
Frédéric joined our group in 2025. He obtained his PhD from the University of Zurich in 2023, where he designed, constructed and operated a demonstrator facility for the DARWIN experiment, Xenoscope, with the group of Prof. Laura Baudis. He then joined the group of Dr. Luca Scotto Lavina at the Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et des Hautes Énergies in Paris, where he constructed XeLab, a liquid xenon setup used to study novel types of electrodes for dual-phase TPCs. He is a member of the LoLX, nEXO and XLZD collaborations, and serves as one of the Level 2 conveners for the cryogenics workgroup of XLZD.
Graduate Students
Eleanor Allen
Working on LoLX and SiPM testing.
Ethan Coulthard
Working on Ba-Tagging.
Irina Nitu
Working on LoLX and SiPM Testing.
Riya Rai
Working on Silion Photomultiplier characterisation for development of the nEXO photodetection system.
Sandhya Rottoo
Building a heat exchanger for xenon purification and characterizing 127Xe as an in situ calibration source for LXe detectors.
Simon Lavoie
Working on developing CHROMA simulations for LoLX.
Adjunct Members
Extended Group Members at TRIUMF
Alex Todd
Working on Calculating nuclear matrix elements for 0νββ under Jason Holt.
Amelia Greathouse
Working on implementing Phase Imaging for the Measurement Penning Trap (MPET) at TRIUMF with the TITAN group.
Undergraduate, Summer, and CEGEP Students
Cameron Flaman
Modifying and Improving the Cloud Chamber.
Justine Thébault Weiser
Modifying and optimizing the Ba-Tagging setup to expand its ion mass range to lighter ions.
Will Gray
Working on characterizing a hafnium sample using a high purity germanium detector.
Testing multiplexer boards used for SiPM testing.
Neutrino Group Alumni
Sarah Nowicki
Working on the optical rail system.
Working on heat flow simulations for emvironmental test chamber for SiPM testing.
Working on LoLX.
Working on SiPM testing.
Multi-messenger search for SN events with nEXO Co-supervised by Daryl Haggard, McGill.
Soud's Website.
Investigates the effect of magentic fields on Ge detectors for EC-BR studies with TITAN .
Kevin Murray
Working on a 137 Xe tag for EXO-200 and the optimization for a Mr TOF for Ba-tagging for nEXO.
Working on Ba-tagging for nEXO.
Yuta Ito
Ba-tagging technique for nEXO now at Japanese Atomic Energy Agency.
Yang Lan
Working on Ba-tagging developments.
Working on nEXO projects.
Working on EXO-200 operation and nEXO photon sensor development.
Working on the UCN project at TRIUMF Co-supervised by Beatrice Franke, TRIUMF MSc Summer 2020.
Development of an in-Xe-gas Laser Ablation Source for the Ba-tagging technique MSc. 2021.
Melissa's Website
Ab initio calculations of atomic properties Co-supervised by Jason Holt, TRIUMF MSc. August 2019.
Chloe Gingras
Working on tests of integrated SiPM photon sensors.
Undergraduate Student Alumni
Tania Atoui
Development of an electrical high-density vacuum feedthrough.
Development of an electrical high-density vacuum feedthrough.
Designing heatsink and interface boards for silicon photomultiplier testing.
Working on testing multiplexer boards.
David Paz
Photon Simulation of the nEXO Outer Detector Diffuser-based Optical Monitoring System (DORY).
Ben Collins
Investigating how large language models can augment traditional bibliometric methods for evaluating researchers and their work.
Mo'tasim Mauthoor
Investigating how large language models can augment traditional bibliometric methods for evaluating researchers and their work.
Jasmine Boyd
Continuing the development of the IGLAS for the Ba Tagging Technique.
Doing a PHYS 479 project working on simulating the IGLAS in SimIon.
Sandhya Rottoo
SURA summer student
Working on the developing of a liquid Xe level sensor for LoLX.
Doing a PHYS479 Project for the Implementation of a Cherenkov light generator in Chroma.
Installation and calibration of LXe and LN2 level sensors.
building a heat exchanger for xenon purification.
Marharyta Sulaieva
Working on SiPM testing for the ETS.
Alfredo Sosa Moreno
Continuing the development of the IGLAS for the Ba Tagging Technique.
Ethan Coulthard
Operation of a liquid xenon cryostat and comparison of data to simulations.
Emilio de la Cruz
Working on upgrading the Laser optics of the LAS and performing SIMION simulations to verify observed ion transport properties with simulated expectations.
Eliot Raschetti
Working on setting up the linear rail system and building a cooling system for SiPM Testing.
Kavin Aggarwal
Working on upgrading the Laser optics of the LAS and performing SIMION simulations to verify observed ion transport properties with simulated expectations.
Sophie Gélinas
with on a simulation of the SiPM stave testing setup in Chroma .
Julien Hacot-Slonosky
Creating a cooling system using thermoelectric coolers to cool a test stand and test how SiPMs operate at low temperatures.
Grace Champagne
Developing a control system to monitor pressures of supply gases and the lab exhaust pressure in the lab.
Encoder code development and testing for SiPM tile characterization.
Maxim Lysenko
PHYS479 Thesis Student working on implementing a liquid nitrogen level sensor for the lab's Xe recovery system.
Kristofer Karam
Developing an oscilloscope readout for a MIDAS DAQ.
Javeria Rizwan
Doing a PHYS459 project with Yossera to develop a multi-element ion source for Ba-tagging (mass spectrometer calibration).
Yossera Taghi
Bender Ba-tagging.
Doing a PHYS459 project with Javeria to develop a multi-element ion source for Ba-tagging (mass spectrometer calibration).
Simon Lavoie
USRA summer student
Working on developing CHROMA simulations for LoLX.
Amelia Remnant
MITACS summer student
Working on barium tagging, calibrating and optimising the electrode potentials for ion
transport, as well as the installation of the LAS for the QMF.
Fadi Younes
Built a table-top cooler for SiPM testing down to -30°C.
Marc-Antoine Leclerc
SURA summer student
Working on automating the testing of large SiPM arrays including taking IV curves and packaging
the electrometer software within MIDAS.
Riya Rai
MITACS summer student
Working on the quadrupole bender, specifically in the assembly and characterisation of ion
transport through the bender using simulations as well as measurements.
Irina Nitu
Doing a PHYS396 project simulating the nEXO Outer Detector calibration system.
PHYS 489 Research Project. Calibration Configuration of nEXO's Outer Detector.
Calibration Configuration of nEXO's Outer Detector and Diffuser Ball Simulations in Chroma.
Worked on core-collapse supernovae simulations for studies of nEXO Outer Detector sensitivity to supernova neutrinos.
Victor Desautels
Phys 489 Project. Working on testing the LoLX pulse fitter.
Taichi Saito
PHYS 489 Student
Working on a liquid nitrogen level sensor for LoLX.
SURA summer student
Simulation of RF devices for ion transport.
Research Project.
SURA summer student
development of in-gas laser ablation source (IGLAS).
In-gas LAS development.
Minya Bai
PHYS 396 Research project.
Simulation of photon interactions on material surfaces.
Working on the In-Gas Laser Ablation Source.
Kevin Nguyen
USRA summer student
Testing the LoLX pulse fitter.
Katherine Lei
USRA summer student
Performance studies of a laser-induced single Ba-ion source.
Jordan Agathe
BIPOC summer student
Characterizing the MUX board.
Bender Ba-tagging.
USRA summer student
Design, construction, and commissioning of a small cloud chamber.
Ruijia Yang
PHYS 459 Honours Thesis. Simulation of nEXO muon veto.
Measurement of particulate concentration, temperature, and pressure in the lab.
Measurement of particulate concentration, temperature, and pressure in the lab.
Joey Torsiello
Measurement of ion velocities in an ion plume.
Emma Klemets
PHYS 459 Honours Thesis. Simulation and optimization of a VUV light source.
NSERC USRA award
Optimizing the nEXO muon veto for SN neutrino detection.
Implementation of a slow control data base for BvL.
IT specialist.
Janet Wang
PHYS396 Research project. Visualization of slow control data.
USRA summer student
Simulation of cross talk in LoLX .
CEGEP Visiting Summer Student
VUV light source developments.
Tianyang (Tim) Yu
PHYS396 Research Project. X-Y scanner to document surfaces of SiPMs.
PHYS 489 Special Research Project. Measurement of leakage current on a multiplexer board for SiPM testing.
Cleo Gaillard
Optimizing the nEXO muon veto for SN neutrino detection.
NSERC USRA award
.
PHYS 489 Special Research Project
Charge Calibration of SiPMs for LoLX.
Lab helper.
NSERC USRA and CINP award 2019
Gas-dynamic calculations for nEXO.
PHYS 459 Honours Thesis. Efficiency measurements of the LAS.
Yu Wu
PHYS 489 Special Research Project. Charge Calibration of SiPMs for LoLX.
Arman Mansouri
PHYS 459 Honours Thesis. Studies of an electroluimescent light source.
Research Intern
Read-out of a particulate counter.
LoLX developments.
Optical setup for SiPM testing.
SURA summer student
Improvements of the laser-ablation ion source.
Xinyu Jiao
NSERC USRA award
Rebuilding and commissioning a spark chamber.
PHYS396 Research Project. Characterizing a laser-ablation ion source.
PHYS449 Majors Research Project. Characterization of a laser-ablation ion source for Ba-tagging.
Daniel Mayer
PHYS479 Honours Research Project. Characterization of a UV light flasher.
Louis Leey
PHYS449 Majors Research Project. A laser-ablation ion source for Ba-tagging.
PHYS396 Research Project.
Stephanie Mendez
Characterizing a laser-ablation ion source
Maastricht University.
Antoine Belley
NSERC USRA award
VUV light source for nEXO.
Visiting from Grenoble-INF
Working on the development of a VUV light source for SiPM testing.
Thanh Nguyen
NSERC USRA Summer Student
Working on upgrading the Bνl.
Sebastian Eppelt
Visiting from Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Germany
Development of a Cf-252 driven VUV light source.
Villigst scholarship
Visiting from Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
Working on mass spectrometry for Ba-tagging applications.
Dixin Chen
SURA and CINP awards Ba-tagging developments.
MITACS scholarship Optimization of laser-ablation ion source for Ba-tagging.
MITACS scholarship Development of a VUV light source for nEXO.
Connor Sharp
PHYS 479 Honours Research Project. Investigating n-capture on Xe-137.
Connor Peltz
PHYS 489 Special Research Project. Investigating n-capture on Xe-137.
Waterloo Undergraduate
working on the development of a laser ablation ion source.
Jenny Long
working on the improvement of the PHYS-257/258 undergrad teaching lab
PHYS 396 Undergraduate Research Project. Working on commissioning a LTQ Thermo Finnigan mass spectrometer.
SURA summer student
working on the development or a laser-ablation ion source.
USRA summer student
working on the development of a laser-ablation ion source.
PHYS 479 Undergraduate Research Project. working on commissioning a LTQ Thermo Finnigan mass spectrometer.
Taylor Seo
PHYS 396 Undergraduate Research Project. Working on the design of alaser ablation ion source.
PHYS 396 Undergraduate Research Project. Working on improving McGill's spark chamber.
Waterloo Undergraduate
Working on the development of an electroluminescent light source for SiPM testing for nEXO.
Christopher Gagnon
Working on the improvement of the undergraduate lab PHS257/258.
USRA summer student
Working on the development of an electroluminescent light source for SiPM testing for nEXO.
Christopher Morison
USRA summer student
Working on the development of an electroluminescent light source for SiPM testing for nEXO.
Historic pictures
(yes, I am slowly getting older and already have historic pictures - yet not in b/w.)Art McDonald visits the neutrino lab undergrads (June 5, 2017)
From left: Thanh, Soud, Jonathan, Reem, Jenny, Lucas, Zach, Art McDonald, Louis
Group picture at the first annual group BBQ in 2016.
From left: Saverio, Omar, Chris, Evert, Kevin, Soud, Christo, Thomas (BBQ not shown)
Group picture at the annual group BBQ in 2018.
From left: Tsvetelin, Sebastian, Kevin, Zach, Xiao, Thomas B., Soud, Jonathan, Antoine, Thanh, Haojie, Thomas M., Dixin
Group picture featuring SNOLAB sunglasses on the roof of Rutherford in 2019.
From left: Lucas, Tim, Thomas M., Tsvetelin, Chris, Xiao, Soud, James, Melissa, Xinyu, Yilin, Megan, Jasmine, Thomas B.
Group picture at the annual group BBQ in 2021 (a few were skipped for obvious reasons).
From left: Bernadette, Samin, Lisa, Tsvetelin, David, Felix, Lucas, Chris, Soud, Kevin
Group picture at the first (of two) annual group BBQ in 2022.
From left: Soud, Lisa, Chris, Tsvetelin, Laura, Katherine, Minya, Michael, Chloe, Yossera, Lucas, Megan, Kevin, David, Jordan, Hussain, Kevin
Group picture at the second annual group BBQ in 2022.
From left: Thomas, Minya, Katherine, Hussain, Samin, Felix, Elika, Bernadette, Michael, Laura, Tsvetelin, Chloe, Soud, Lisa, David, Kevin
Group picture at the annual group BBQ in 2023.
From left: Simon, Thomas, Sandhya, Lucas, David, Soud, Marc-Antoine, Lisa, Kevin, Riya, Tsvetelin, Samin, Hussain, Elika
Group picture at the annual group BBQ in 2024.
From left: Hussain, Felix, Irina, Julien, Samin, Sophie, Kavin, Lucas, David, Grace, Eliot, Sarah, Emilio, Thomas
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