The Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory has a long history dating back to the Manhattan Project with an idea of pursuing fundamental research on the effects initiated by ionizing radiation that spans applications in multiple scientific disciplines. When impinging on all types of matter, ionizing radiation releases an enormous number of non-thermal secondary electrons. These electrons are involved in a wide range of elementary collisional processes, which are driving forces in producing distinctive energetic and reactive species. In this talk, special attention will be on a few quantum processes, particularly on dissociative electron attachment and the recent experimental development in our laboratory, which promises to reveal a comprehensive picture of this dissociation process. Moreover, free electrons and unpaired electrons in radicals, both components of an atmospheric pressure plasma, are widely utilized as novel radiation sources for industrial processing and biomedical treatment. In our laboratory, we utilize DNA and the biological cells as molecular probes to characterize the energetics and chemistry of this type of plasma and use machine learning techniques to assess electron-induced processes and improve plasma efficiency in a diverse range of applications.
