Experimental Techniques in Nuclear and Particle Physics

Transcription

1 Experimental Techniques in Nuclear and Particle Physics

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3 Stefaan Tavernier Experimental Techniques in Nuclear and Particle Physics 123

4 Prof. Stefaan Tavernier Vrije Universiteit Brussel Fak. Wetenschappen Dept. Natuurkunde (DNTK) Pleinlaan Bruxelles Belgium stefaan.tavernier@vub.ac.be ISBN e-isbn DOI / Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: estudio Calamar S.L. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (

5 Preface I have been teaching courses on experimental techniques in nuclear and particle physics to master students in physics and in engineering for many years. This book grew out of the lecture notes I made for these students. The physics and engineering students have rather different expectations of what such a course should be like. I hope that I have nevertheless managed to write a book that can satisfy the needs of these different target audiences. The lectures themselves, of course, need to be adapted to the needs of each group of students. An engineering student will not question a statement like the velocity of the electrons in atoms is 1% of the velocity of light, a physics student will. Regarding units, I have written factors h and c explicitly in all equations throughout the book. For physics students it would be preferable to use the convention that is common in physics and omit these constants in the equations, but that would probably be confusing for the engineering students. Physics students tend to be more interested in theoretical physics courses. However, physics is an experimental science and physics students should understand how experiments work, and be able to make experiments work. As a post doc, I have never designed any electronics board, but many times I have had to find out why the board I have given did not do what it was supposed to do and fix the problem. This is an essential skill any experimental physicist should have. I hope this book will help the students in acquiring this skill and provide her or him with a sufficient basic knowledge on nuclear and particle detection techniques such that she or he is able to read, and understand, the scientific literature in this field. Brussels, Belgium Stefaan Tavernier v

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7 Contents 1 Introduction Documentation UnitsandPhysicalConstants Special Relativity Probability and Statistics The Structure of Matter at the Microscopic Scale Nuclei and Nuclear Decay The Beta Decay The Alpha Decay The Gamma Decay ElectronCaptureandInternalConversion The Radioactive Decay Law TheNuclearLevelDiagram Exercises References Interactions of Particles in Matter CrossSectionandMeanFreePath Energy Loss of a Charged Particle due to Its Interaction withtheelectrons Other Electromagnetic Interactions of Charged Particles InteractionsofX-RaysandGammaRaysinMatter InteractionsofParticlesinMatterduetotheStrongForce NeutrinoInteractions IllustrationsoftheInteractionsofParticles Exercises References Natural and Man-Made Sources of Radiation Natural Sources of Radiation UnitsofRadiationandRadiationProtection Electrostatic Accelerators Cyclotrons The Quest for the Highest Energy, Synchrotrons and Colliders.. 72 vii

8 viii Contents 3.6 Linear Accelerators Secondary Beams Applications of Accelerators Outlook Exercises References Detectors Based on Ionisation in Gases Introduction to Detectors for Subatomic Particles IonisationandChargeTransportinGases IonisationChambers Counters with Gas Amplification Applications of Counters with Gas Amplification Proportional Counters for X-Ray Detection Gas Counters for the Tracking of High-Energy ChargedParticles Applications of Gas Counters in Homeland Security Recent Developments in Counters Based on Gas Amplification Micro-strip Gas Counters (MSGC) GEM and MICROMEGAS Counters ResistivePlateChambers Exercises References Detectors Based on Ionisation in Semiconductor Materials Introduction to Semiconductors The Semiconductor Junction as a Detector Silicon Semiconductor Detectors Germanium Semiconductor Detectors Other Semiconductor Detector Materials Exercises References Detectors Based on Scintillation Introduction to Scintillators Organic Scintillators Inorganic Scintillators Photodetectors Using Scintillators in the Nuclear Energy Range Applications of Scintillators in High-Energy Physics Applications of Scintillators in Medicine Exercises References Neutron Detection SlowNeutronDetection Neutron Detectors for Nuclear Reactors

9 Contents ix 7.3 FastNeutronDetection Detectors for Fast Neutrons Based on Moderation Detectors Based on the Observation of the Recoil Nuclei Exercises Reference Electronics for Particle Detectors Introduction Impulse Response and Transfer Function AmplifiersforParticleDetectors TheThermalNoiseofaResistor ResistorandTransistorNoiseinAmplifiers Noise Contribution of a Parallel Resistor or a Series Resistor NoiseDuetotheFirstTransistor Shot Noise Summary and Conclusions Exercises References Solutions to Exercises Annex1:PhysicalConstants Annex 2: International System of Units Annex 3: Atomic and Molecular Properties of Materials Annex4:PeriodicTableofElements Annex 5: Electromagnetic Relations Annex 6: Commonly Used Radioactive Sources Index