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In experimental and applied particle physics
Particle physics

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary particle constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them....
 and nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering

Nuclear engineering is the application of the breakdown of atomic nucleus and/or other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics....
, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify high-energy particle
Elementary particle

In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a wiktionary:particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles....
s, such as those produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator
Particle accelerator

A particle accelerator is a device that uses electric fields to propel electric charge Elementary particles to high speeds and to contain them....
.






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Cmscollaborationposter
In experimental and applied particle physics
Particle physics

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary particle constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them....
 and nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering

Nuclear engineering is the application of the breakdown of atomic nucleus and/or other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics....
, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify high-energy particle
Elementary particle

In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a wiktionary:particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles....
s, such as those produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator
Particle accelerator

A particle accelerator is a device that uses electric fields to propel electric charge Elementary particles to high speeds and to contain them....
. Modern detectors are also used as calorimeters to measure the energy of the detected radiation. They may also be used to measure other attributes such as momentum, spin, charge etc. of the particles.

Description

Detectors designed for modern accelerators are huge, both in size and in cost. The term counter
Counter

In digital logic and computing, a counter is a device which stores the number of times a particular event or Process has occurred, often in relationship to a clock signal....
 is often used instead of detector, when the detector counts the particles but does not resolve its energy or ionization. Particle detectors usually can also track ionizing radiation (high energy photon
Photon

In physics, the photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic field and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation....
s or even visible light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
). If their main purpose is radiation measurement, they are called radiation detectors, but as photons are also (massless) particles, the term particle detector is still correct.

Examples and types

Many of the detectors invented and used so far are ionization detectors (of which gaseous ionization detectors and semiconductor detector
Semiconductor detector

This article is about particle detector. For information about semiconductor detectors in radio, see Diode#Semiconductor_diodes, rectifier, detector and cat's-whisker detector....
s are most typical) and scintillation detectors; but other, completely different principles have also been applied, like Cerenkov light and transition radiation.

Historical Examples
  • Bubble chamber
    Bubble chamber

    A bubble chamber is a vessel filled with a superheating transparency liquid used to detect electrically charged particles moving through it....
  • Wilson cloud chamber
    Cloud chamber

    [Image:Cloud_chamber_bionerd.jpg|thumb|Cloud chamber with visible tracks from ionizing radiation The cloud chamber, also known as the Wilson chamber, is used for detecting particles of ionizing radiation....
    , Diffusion chamber


Detectors for Radiation Protection
  • Dosimeter
    Dosimeter

    A dosimeter is a device used to measure an individual's exposure to a hazardous environment, particularly when the hazard is cumulative over long intervals of time, or one's bio-accumulation....
  • Electroscope
    Electroscope

    An electroscope is an early scientific instrument that is used to detect the presence and magnitude of electric charge on a body. It was the first electrical measuring instrument....
     (miniature electroscopes are used as portable dosimeters)


Commonly used detectors for Particle and Nuclear Physics
  • Calorimeter
    Calorimeter (particle physics)

    In particle physics, a calorimeter is an experimental apparatus that measures the energy of subatomic particle. Most particles enter the calorimeter and initiate a particle shower and the particles' energy is deposited in the calorimeter, collected, and measured....
  • Time of flight detector
    Time of flight detector

    A time of flight detector is a particle detector which can discriminate between a lighter and a heavier elementary particle of same momentum using their time of flight between two scintillator....
  • Photographic plate
    Photographic plate

    Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a mean of photography. A light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was applied to a glass plate....
    s
  • Cherenkov detector
    Cherenkov detector

    A Cherenkov detector is a particle detector utilizing the mass-dependent threshold energy of Cherenkov effect. This allows a discrimination between a lighter particle and a heavier particle ....
    , Aerogel detector
    • RICH (Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector)
  • Transition radiation detector
    Transition radiation detector

    A transition radiation detector is a particle detector utilizing the -dependent threshold of transition radiation in a stratified material. It contains many layers of materials with different Index of refraction ....
  • Scintillation counter
    Scintillation counter

    A scintillation counter measures ionizing radiation. The sensor, called a scintillator, consists of a transparent crystal, usually phosphor, plastic , or organic liquid that fluoresces when struck by ionizing radiation....
     and associated Photomultiplier
    Photomultiplier

    Photomultiplier tubes , members of the class of vacuum tubes, and more specifically phototubes, are extremely sensitive detectors of light in the ultraviolet, visible light, and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum....
     or Photodiode
    Photodiode

    A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable of converting light into either electric current or voltage, depending upon the mode of operation....
    /Avalanche photodiode
    Avalanche photodiode

    Avalanche photodiodes are photodetectors that can be regarded as the semiconductor analog to photomultipliers. By applying a high reverse bias voltage , APDs show an internal current gain effect due to impact ionization ....
    • Lucas cell
  • Semiconductor detector
    Semiconductor detector

    This article is about particle detector. For information about semiconductor detectors in radio, see Diode#Semiconductor_diodes, rectifier, detector and cat's-whisker detector....
  • Gaseous ionization detectors
    Gaseous ionization detectors

    In particle physics, gaseous ionization detectors are detectors designed to seek the presence of particles . If a particle has enough energy to ionize a gas, the resulting electrons emitted can cause a current flow which can be measured in different ways....
    • Ionization chamber
      Ionization chamber

      An ionization chamber is a device used for two major purposes: detecting particles in air , and for detection or measurement of ionizing radiation....
      , Proportional counter
      Proportional counter

      A proportional counter is a measurement device to count Charged particles of ionizing radiation and measure their energy.A proportional counter is a type of gaseous ionization detector - it works on the same principle as the Geiger counter, but uses a lower operating voltage....
      , Geiger-Müller tube
      Geiger-Müller tube

      A Geiger-M?ller tube is the sensing element of a Geiger counter instrument that can detect a single particle of ionizing radiation, and typically produce an audible click for each....
    • Drift chamber,Jet chamber
    • MicroStrip Gas Chamber (MSGC)
    • Multiwire Proportional Chamber (MWPC)
    • Resistive Plate Chamber
    • Spark chamber,Wire chamber
      Wire chamber

      A multi-wire chamber is a detector for particles of ionizing radiation which is an advancement of the concept of the Geiger counter and the proportional counter....
    • Straw chamber
      Straw chamber

      A straw chamber is a type of gaseous ionization detectors . It is a long tube with a wire down the center and a gas which becomes ionized when a Elementary particle passes through....
    • Streamer tube
    • Time projection chamber
      Time projection chamber

      In physics, a Time Projection Chamber is a particle detector invented by David R. Nygren at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. A time projection chamber consists of a gas-filled cylindrical chamber with wire chambers as endplates....
       (TPC)
  • Z-sensitive Ionization and Phonon Detector coupled Superconducting Transition Edge Sensors (ZIP detectors)


Modern detectors

Modern detectors in particle physics combine several of the above elements in layers much like an onion
Onion

Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa....
.

Installations of particle detectors


At colliders


  • At CERN
    CERN

    The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , , is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the France-Switzerland border, established in 1954 in science....
    • for the LHC
      Large Hadron Collider

      The Large Hadron Collider is the List of accelerators in particle physics#Hadron colliders particle accelerator, intended to Collider opposing Charged particle beam, of either protons at an energy of 7 TeV/particle, or lead nuclei at an energy of 574 TeV/nucleus....
      • CMS
        Compact Muon Solenoid

        The Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is one of two large general-purpose particle physics Particle detectors built on the proton Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland and France....
      • ATLAS
      • ALICE
        A Large Ion Collider Experiment

        ALICE is one of the six Particle detector experiments being constructed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. It is optimized to study heavy ion collisions....
      • LHCb
        LHCb

        The LHCb experiment is one of six particle physics detector experiments built on the Large Hadron Collider accelerator at CERN. LHCb is a specialized b-physics experiment, particularly aimed at measuring the parameters of CP violation in the interactions of b-hadrons ....
    • for the LEP
      Large Electron-Positron Collider

      The Large Electron-Positron Collider was one of the largest particle accelerators ever constructed.It was built at CERN, a multi-national center for research in nuclear and particle physics near Geneva, Switzerland....
      • Aleph
      • Delphi
      • L3
      • Opal
    • for the SPS
      Super Proton Synchrotron

      The Super Proton Synchrotron is a 6.9 km long particle accelerator at CERN. Originally specified as a 300 Electron volt proton machine, the SPS was actually built to be capable of 400GeV, an operating energy it achieved on the official commissioning date of 17 June 1976....
      • The COMPASS Experiment
        COMPASS experiment

        COMPASS is a fixed-target particle physics experiment at the Super Proton Synchrotron, a particle accelerator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research ....
  • At Fermilab
    Fermilab

    Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located in Batavia, Illinois near Chicago, Illinois, is a U.S. United States Department of Energy United States Department of Energy National Labs specializing in high-energy particle physics....
    • for the Tevatron
      Tevatron

      Tevatron is a circular particle accelerator at the Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois and is the highest energy particle collider in the world until collisions begin at the Large Hadron Collider....
  • At DESY
    DESY

    The DESY is the biggest German research center for particle physics, with sites in Hamburg and Zeuthen.DESY's main purposes are fundamental research in particle physics and research with synchrotron radiation....
    • for HERA
      • H1
        H1 (particle detector)

        H1 is a particle detector in operation at HERA in DESY, Hamburg. It began operating together with HERA in 1992. Leptons are collided with protons by HERA in the interaction point of H1....
      • HERA-B
        HERA-B

        HERA-B was an innovative, but ultimately unsuccessful, particle physics detector of the HERA accelerator at DESY.Its primary aim was to measure CP violation in the decays of heavy B-mesons in the late 1990s, several years ahead of the Large Hadron Collider and BaBar programs....
      • HERMES
        HERMES experiment

        HERMES is an experiment being conducted using the Hadron Elektron Ring Anlage located at DESY in Hamburg. The experiment's goal is to investigate the quark-gluon structure of matter by examining how a nucleon's constituents affect its spin....
      • ZEUS
        Zeus (particle detector)

        ZEUS is a particle detector that was operation at HERA in DESY, Hamburg. It began operating together with HERA in 1992 and was functional until HERA was decommissioned in June 2007....
  • At BNL
    Brookhaven National Laboratory

    Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States United States Department of Energy National Labs located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S....
    • for the RHIC
      • PHENIX
        Phénix

        Ph?nix is a small-scale prototype fast breeder reactor in France, located in the Marcoule nuclear site. It has continued operating after the closure of the subsequent full-scale prototype Superph?nix....
      • Phobos (physics)
        Phobos (physics)

        Phobos was a heavy ion collision experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory's RHIC collider. All data is already collected and the experiment is in the data analysis stage as of March 2006....
  • At SLAC
    • for the
      • BaBar
        BaBar experiment

        The BaBar experiment, or simply BaBar, is an international collaboration of more than 500 physicists and engineers studying the subatomic world at energies of approximately ten times the rest mass of a proton ....
    • for the
  • At Cornell
    Cornell University

    Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
    • for CESR
      Cornell Electron Storage Ring

      The Cornell Electron Storage Ring is an electron-positron collider at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, New York, United States. The CLEO and CUSB particle detectors collected data at CESR, and the CHESS facility used the synchrotron radiation to perform a variety of studies....
      • CLEO
        CLEO (particle detector)

        CLEO was a general purpose particle detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring , and the name of the collaboration of physicists who operated the detector....
      • CUSB
        CUSB

        CUSB was a particle detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring. CUSB, along with CLEO , confirmed the existence of the Υ and discovered the Υ....
  • Others
    • from UC Irvine


Without colliders


  • Super-Kamiokande
    Super-Kamiokande

    Super-Kamiokande, or Super-K for short, is a Neutrino detector in the city of Hida, Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The observatory was designed to search for proton decay, study solar neutrino and Neutrino#Atmospheric neutrinoss, and keep watch for supernovas in the Milky Way Galaxy....
  • AMANDA
    Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array

    The Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array is a neutrino telescope located beneath the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. In 2005, after nine years of operation, AMANDA officially became part of its successor project, IceCube....


See also

  • List of particles
    List of particles

    This is a list of the different types of particles found or believed to exist in nature. For individual lists of the different particles, see the individual pages given below....


External articles and references

Filmstrips
  • "Radiation detectors". H. M. Stone Productions, Schloat. Tarrytown, N.Y., Prentice-Hall Media, 1972.


General Information