In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. -Theodore Roosevelt I dedicate this work to the love of my life, Diana, and to my family. . . Dedico este trabalho ao amor da minha vida, a Diana, e à minha família. . . I would like to, first of all, leave a very special thanks to my thesis directors, Prof. Paul Bowen (EPFL) and Dr. Thierry Stora (CERN), for believing in me and my skills,

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... ving me the opportunity to work in their respective teams and to belong to such internationally renowned organizations. They were not only great mentors to me in their respective expertise fields, but also good friends that supported me through the most difficult phases of this work. I would also like to thank as well the opportunity given, to participate in many conferences, workshops and training courses allowing me to network and grow professionally. Thank you Thierry! Thank you Paul! I would also like to leave here a very special thanks to Prof. Ana Senos, which discussions and support were essential to this work. Thanks go also to CERN and EPFL for the financial support. I had three different work places (CERN, EPFL and U. Aveiro) but most of my time was spent at CERN. I want to thank my team, the TISDs (Target and Ion Source Development team), for all the motivation and support during my PhD. Thank you Alex, Jochen, Julien, Tânia, Wonjoo, Melanie, Yisel, Ricardo and Christoph. I'm also grateful for the fact that you guys covered in for my ISOLDE responsibilities (yield checks) while I was writing my thesis. I promise to make it up for you very soon, in my new Fellow contract at CERN. Furthermore, I would like to leave a special thanks to my supervisee, Silvain Badie, for the dedication and work developing novel TiC-C nanocomposites with me. For the countless requested scientific articles readily delivered to me by the CERN Library staff, I big thanks to them. At EPFL I would like to thank Carlos Morais for all the technical support and practical suggestions in the lab. I would also like to acknowledge Prof.