The following information is available for this Level Three course:
    General description   Recommended books   Syllabus & Notes
 

General Description

Duration: 10 lectures

Timetable: 12:10 - 13:00, Thursdays, in LTF

Course Aims: To provide an introduction to the physics behind particle detectors, the utilisation of that physics in practical instruments and the applications of detectors in experimental apparatus.

Objectives: On successful completion of this course, you should:

• understand how energetic particles interact with the matter they traverse;
• be able to describe qualitatively how energy loss depends on the properties of the traversing particle;
• be familiar with methods by which atomic ionisation and excitation are utilised in solid, liquid and gaseous detectors;
• understand coherent effects in matter, and their exploitation in Cherenkov and transition radiation detectors;
• appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of shower detectors or calorimeters;
• understand basic design criteria for practical detectors;
• recognise appropriate applications for the different types of detectors;
• be able to evaluate the performance of various simple detector designs.

Handouts: Handouts are provided for each section of the course, consisting of copies of transparencies, with diagrams and other information.  Detailed notes are provided for the more mathematical sections of the material.

Problems: Problems are set on each topic for private study.  Solutions are handed out a few weeks after the questions.

Assessment: This is based on the end-of-semester examination.
 One question (from a choice of two) may be answered from the section of the paper on Nuclear and Particle Detectors.  (In total, two questions must be answered in 1.5  hours for PHY311, and four questions must be answered in 3 hours for PHY312.)

Context: PHY311 (and in some cases 312) is an option for all BSc and MPhys single and dual honours Physics degrees.

Recommended Books:

K. Kleinknecht - Detectors for Particle Radiation, C.U.P.  1990
R.K. Bock & A. Vasilescu - The Particle Detector BriefBook, Springer 1998  (see below)

R. Fernow - Introduction to Experimental Particle Physics, C.U.P. 1986
W.R. Leo - Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments, Springer-Verlag  1987
G.F. Knoll - Radiation Detection and Measurement, Wiley  1989

Web version of The Particle Detector BriefBook:  http://www.cern.ch/Physics/ParticleDetector/BriefBook/

Fabjan & Fischer - Particle Detectors CERN-EP 80-27, Rep. Prog. Phys. 43 (1980) 1003.
Sauli - Principles of Operation of Multiwire Proportional and Drift Chambers  CERN 77-09

Click on the link to see notes and supplementary material for that unit on the screen. Please note that these notes are neither a copy of nor a replacement for the material presented in the lectures, both through printed handouts and other forms of delivery!

1. Aims of Particle Detectors
   Determination of position, energy and momentum.  Identification of particle type (determination of mass).
   Overview of a large experiment in particle physics.
2. Interaction of charged particles with matter
   (Main emphasis on relativistic, "heavy" particles)
   Impulse approximation.  Limits on the impact parameter.  Energy loss by excitation and ionisation.  Bethe-Bloch formula.  The density effect.
   Mean energy loss as a function of velocity; Range of slow particles.  Fluctuations in energy loss - Landau and Vavilov theories (brief).
3. Detectors relying on ionisation and excitation
   Scintillation counters and photomultipliers.  Time-of-flight.
   Gaseous detectors.  Ionisation chambers,  proportional counters,  drift chambers.  [Streamer chambers,  spark chambers and flash tubes.]
   Momentum measurements in a magnetic field.
   Semiconductor detectors - hodoscopes, microstrips and CCDs.
   
   Bubble chambers.
4. Coherent effects for charged particles
   Cherenkov radiation and Cherenkov detectors.  Threshold and ring-imaging detectors.
   Transition radiation detectors
5. Interactions of electrons and photons with matter
   Bremsstrahlung
   Photo-electric effect
   Compton scattering
   e⁺e^- pair production
6. Electromagnetic calorimetry
   Electromagnetic showers and energy measurement.
7. Hadronic calorimetry
   Hadronic showers.  Fluctuations and resolution.  Compensation.
   Combined electromagnetic & hadronic calorimeters.