Home – Institute for Nuclear Physics

Welcome

on the web pages of the Institute for Nuclear Physics (IKP) at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

We study and teach in the areas of nuclear structure physics, nuclear astrophysics, relativistic heavy-ion physics, plasma physics, astroparticle physics, accelerator physics and related fields in experimental and theoretical groups.

The IKP operates the Superconducting Darmstadt Linear Accelerator (S-DALINAC), various detector and targer laboratories as well as a Theory Center.

The Institute for Nuclear Physics is an essential participant in the research field M+M (Matter and Materials) of the Technical University of Darmstadt. It is an institute within the Department of Physics beside the Institute for Applied Physics and the Institute for Physics of Condensed Matter.

Experimentalists and theoreticians work closely together on a number of scientific topics.

Latest News

Topical Lecture Week 2025 with Prof. Evgeny Epelbaum (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

August 20, 2025

Prof. Evgeny Epelbaum was the lecturer of our Theoretical Topical Lecture Week in Summer 2025 and presented 6 Lectures on “Effective theory of nuclear interactions” to the young Researchers of the SFB.
Less nuclear chaos than expected – Nuclear gamma-decays more structured than previously thought

July 30, 2025

Darmstadt, Germany / Durham, USA – A research team at TU Darmstadt around Prof. Pietralla, has developed and applied a novel experimental approach that challenges conventional assumptions in nuclear physics. The data from a research project led by Dr. Isaak and analyzed and interpreted by Dr. Papst for his dissertation at the Institute for Nuclear Physics at TU Darmstadt, suggest that atomic nuclei may behave less randomly at high excitation energies than previously thought. Instead, special nuclear structure effects may continue to play a role.

All News

Picture: Jan-Christoph Hartung

Portrait of the Institute

The IKP was presented in the journal 'Nuclear Physics News'. The article can be found at

The article can be found here.

Virtual Tour

Visit the superconducting electron accelerator S-DALINAC virtually! The basic operation of the accelerator and its experiments is explained in this video.

More information can be found on the webpages of the S-DALINAC.