Photonuclear reactions—From basic research to applications

Nuclear reactions induced by photons play a vital role for very different aspects of basic research and applications in physics. They are a key ingredient for the synthesis of nuclei in the Universe and provide, due to the selectivity and the model-independence of the reaction mechanism, an extremely valuable probe for researchers. The penetrability of photons in the MeV energy range makes them, in addition, an ideal tool for meeting various societal challenges. The last two decades saw a rapid development of advanced photon sources and detection methods for photonuclear reaction products. Bremsstrahlung and quasi-monoenergetic photon beams with unprecedented intensity and quality combined with state-of-the-art detector technology paved the way for new scientific discoveries and technological applications.